m 




DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 



BULLETIN 



OF TIfE 



UNITED STATES 



GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



No. 46 




WASHI^GTO^ 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1S8S 



UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

J. \V. POWELL, DiRECTOE 



NATURE AND ORIGIN 



OF 



DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME 



BY 



K. A. F. PENROSE, Jr. 



WITH AN 



INTRODUCTION BY N. S. SHALER 




WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1888 



u 



h 









rn^rn 






CONTENTS 



Page. 

Introduction by N. S. Shaler 9 

Importance of phosphate of lime in nature 21 

Classification of deposits of phosphate of lime 21 

Mineral phosphates 22 

Apatites 22 

Apatites of Canada - 23 

Apatites of Norway » 42 

Apatites of Spain 45 

Phosphorites 46 

Phosphorites of Nassau 46 

Phosphorites of southwestern France 48 

Phosphorites of Spain 53 

Rock phosphates 59 

Amorphous nodular phosphates 60 

Amorphous nodular phosphates of South Carolina 60 

Amorphous nodular phosphates of North Carolina 70 

Amorphous nodular phosphates of Alabama 75 

Amorphous nodular phosphates of Martha's Vineyard 78 

Amorphous nodular phosphates of Florida 78 

Amorphous nodular phosphate deposits of North Wales 80 

Amorphous nodular phosphate deposits of England 84 

Phosphate beds of Cretaceous Upper Greensand 84 

Phosphate beds of Cretaceous Lower Greensand 90 

Tertiary phosphate beds 94 

History of the rock phosphates of England 96 

Phosphates of Belgium 102 

Phosphates of northern France 107 

Phosphates of central France 11 1 

Phosphates of Russia 112 

Phosphatic limestone beds ,.-. 116 

Phosphatic limestones of Kentucky 116 

Guanos 117 

Soluble guanos 117 

Leached guanos 122 

Bone beds 126 

Cave deposits 126 

Lacustrine deposits 127 

Bibliography 129 

(479) 5 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Page. 

Plate I. Map showing location of phosphatic deposits of South Carolina (iO 

II. Map showing location of phosphatic deposits of North Carolina 70 

III. M;ip of European Russia, showing the phosphate beds 112 

Fig. 1. Section at Olympia, Bath Connty, Ky 15 

2. Apatite in the Bonauza pit, Union mine, Portland, Ottawa County, 

Quebec 24 

3. Section on south side of hill on north side of Rheannio Lake, Temple- 

ton, Ottawa County. Quebec 25 

4. Dike at the Union mine, Portlaud West, Ottawa County, Quebec 26 

5. Ideal section southeast and northwest through the Emerald mine hill, 

Buckingham, Ottawa County, Quebec 26 

6. Section in a pit near the Emerald mine (looking west), Buckingham, 

Ottawa County, Quebec 27 

7. Section of apatite vein near Smith's mine, Oso, Frontenac County, 

Outario 28 

8. Surface rock at Turner's Island. Clear Lake, Canada 28 

9. Pyroxene surface, Star Hill, Union mine, Portland West, Ottawa 

County, Quebec 29 

10. Opening in the west side of a hill near Smith's mine, Oso, Frontenac 

County, Ontario 29 

11. Bowlder of country rock embedded in pyroxene etc., High Rock mine, 

Portland West, Ottawa County, Quebec 30 

12. Section of one of the northwest and southeast veius at Foxton's mine, 

Loughboro', Frontenac County, Ontario 30 

13. Horizontal section showing natural cavity in vein, Loughboro', Fron- 

tenac County, Ontario 31 

14. Northeast side of a pit at North Star mine, Portland East, Ottawa 

County, Quebec 32 

15. Southwest side of a pit at North Star mine, Portland East, Ottawa 

County, Quebec 33 

16. Southeast side of a pit at North Star mine, Portland East, Ottawa 

County, Quebec '. 34 

17. Northwest side of a pit at North Star mine, Portland East, Ottawa 

County, Quebec 35 

18. Part of- the northeast wall of McLaurin's mine, Templeton, Ottawa 

County, Quebec 35 

19. Section at MeKenzie's opening, looking ENE., Bowman, Ottawa 

County, Quebec 36 

20. SectioD in a pit near the Emerald mine, Buckingham, Ottawa County, 

Quebec 38 

21. North side of the cut in the west side of North Star hill, Portland 

East, Ottawa County, Quebec 39 

(481) » 



8 ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Paga. 1 

Fig. 22. Section at Cubach, Nassau, Prussia, after D. C. Davies 47 

23. Section at Staffel, Nassau, Prussia, after D. C. Davies 47 

24. Section from Truxillo to Logrosan, Spain, after Daubeny and Wid- 

driugton 54 

25. Ground plan of the Caceres mines in 1875, after C. U. Shepard, jr 56 

26. The Estrella deposit iu Estremadura, Spain, after C. U. Shepard, jr.. 57 

27. Section ENE. and WSW. through Pinckuey's phosphate Held, South 

Carolina G4 

28. Average section in Piuckney's phosphate mine, Berkeley County, S. C. 64 

29. Section in one of Fishburne's pits, South Carolina 65 

30. Strata overlying the phosphate bed at Castle Hayne, New Hanover 

County, N. C . 73 

31. Section in quarry at Rocky Hill, on Lochloosa Creek, near Magnesia 

Springs, Alachua County, Fla 79 

32. Section of strata at Cwmgwynen phosphate mine, southwest of Llan- 

gynog, North Wales, after D. C. Davies 80 

33. Section of strata at Berwyn phosphate mine, west of Llangynog, North 

Wales, after D. C. Davies 81 

34. Distorted bed in Cambridgeshire, England, after O. Fisher 90 

35. Section at Upware, Cambridgeshire, England, after W. Keeping 90 

36. Section at Sandy, Bedfordshire, England, after J. F. Walker 91 

(482) 



INTRODUCTION. 



By N. S. Shaler. 



The circumstances which have led to the preparation of the sub- 
joined report ou mineral phosphates are as follows, viz: In 1870 the 
present writer was employed by the Superintendent of the Coast Sur- 
vey, the late Benjamin Peirce, to examine the phosphate beds of South 
Carolina with a view to determining the limits of that field; it was 
also deemed desirable to ascertain, if possible, the conditions which led 
to the formation of the deposits. 

It was at that time the intention of Professor Peirce to have the 
geology of the belt of country within the limits of the Coast Survey 
maps carefully determined, so that they might be shaped in a way that 
would better serve the commercial interests of the country and also 
have a greater scientific value. After a time it appeared that there 
were legal difficulties in the way of publishing these studies in the re- 
ports of the Coast Survey and this work was suspended. It was the 
hope of Professor Peirce to secure a modification of the law, but before 
this was accomplished he retired from the post of Superintendent and 
his successor deemed it best to abandon the project. During the two 
years iu which I was eugaged in this work on the geology of the coast 
line I became very much interested in the problems connected with the 
origin and distribution of phosphatic deposits. From 1873 to 1880, 
while employed as State geologist of Kentucky, I had a chance to see 
a good deal of the somewhat phosphatic limestones of the Cambro-Si- 
lurian sections, a set of beds which, by their decay, have given great 
fertility to the soils that lie upon them. The researches of Dr. Robert 
Peter, the chemist of that survey, made it plain that the phosphatic 
contents of the soils are among the first materials to be exhausted by 
the careless tillage which characterizes our American agriculture, and 
that they are the most costly to restore to the soil. 

Extending the general inquiry to the grain- producing districts which 
lie to the north and west of Kentucky, it became evident that all those 
States, which are now the granary of this country and the chief source 
of supply for European markets as well, are rapidly exhausting their 
soils and will soon be in grave need of phosphatic manures. The im- 

(483) 9 



10 DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME. [bull. 46. 

portance of such manures has so far been well recognized only by the 
cotton growers of this country, yet it is evident that in a short time 
this class of fertilizers will be equally in demand for all forms of grain 
crops. 

These considerations have led me to the conclusion that the geolog 
ical history of phosphatic deposits should receive more deliberate atten 
tion than has yet been given to it. 

When I began my work in the U. S. Geological Survey, I asked per 
mission of the Director to continue my studies on phosphatic deposits 
There was at the time no money available for these studies; it was 
therefore necessary that they should be carried on without other ex 
pense to the Survey than that involved in the small share of my time 
which could be given to the supervision of the work. It was my good 
fortune, however, to find in one of my students of geology, Dr. R. A. 
F. Penrose, jr., a person who was willing at his own cost to under- 
take a preliminary study of the whole field as far as our knowledge ex- 
tends and thus to prepare the problems concerning American phosphate 
deposits for detailed inquiry. This work he has pursued with great 
intelligence and energy during the two years in which he has been 
engaged in it. In this task he has examined all the known phosphate 
deposits of the United States and Canada and has made a careful in- 
quiry into the literature of the subject, as is shown by the extended 
bibliography which is appended to this report. 

The object of this work being to make a necessary preparation for 
the further study of the American phosphatic deposits, Dr. Penrose's 
studies were not designed to be encyclopedic in their scope, but rather 
to afford a synopsis of what is known of the deposits in this and other 
countries. So little is yet generally known of the several conditions 
under which these deposits may occur that it would be very blind work 
to search for them in this country without a careful endeavor to bring 
together the experience which has been gained in other countries. It 
will be evident to the reader of Dr. Penrose's report that the workable 
deposits of phosphates are found in a greater variety of circumstances 
than those which contain most mineral substances that have an eco- 
nomic value. It is not likely that we have as yet exhausted the inquiry 
into the modes of occurrence of this substance; but this synopsis of 
the experience in this and other countries, which is much more exten- 
sive than any other which has been published, will, I believe, serve as a 
guide to the further search for sources of supplies of phosphatic ma- 
nures. It will also be evident to the reader that the conditions of oc- 
currence of these deposits in Europe make it plain that the search for 
them in this country may advantageously be directed to many districts 
in which they have not as yet been found. 

So far the vein deposits of apatite, such as those which are so abun- 
dant north of the St. Lawrence, have not been found in workable quan- 
tities within the limits of "the United States, though the general geo- 

(484) 



bhaleb.] INTRODUCTION. 11 

logical conditions of the Laurentian area exist in the Adirondack dis- 
trict and in the southern parts of the Appalachian system as well as in 
several districts of the Rocky .Mountains. It would be remarkable if ex- 
tensive deposits of this nature, so common in Canada and in the equiv- 
alent rocks of northern and southern Europe, should not be found at 
many points in our American Arclucaii formations. It is on this account 
that so much space in this report is given to the description and illus- 
tration of the Canadian apatite deposits. So, too, we may hope to find 
in the ancient rocks of this country deposits analogous to the great 
Logrosan and Caceres veins in the province of Bstremadura, Spain. 

The Cretaceous deposits of Belgium (which at the present time are, 
next after the phosphate beds of South Carolina, the most productive 
in the world) present a type of beds not yet found in paying quanti- 
ties iu the United States, though deposits of the same age, formed 
under about the same conditions, abound in this country. It is not 
to be expected that phosphatic deposits will exactly repeat themselves 
in strata of the same age in widely separated regions; yet it is clear 
from the summary account of the geological distribution of these phos- 
phates in Europe and North America that in the case of these, as well 
as in that of other substances of value in the arts, there are certain 
guiding principles which we may base on the stratigraphy of the de- 
posits to aid our search. The known workable deposits of a phosphatic 
nature are limited to certain portions of the geological section. Begin- 
ning at the surface of the deposits now forming, these zones are, iu 
descending order, as follows: 

(1) Superficial deposits, iucludiug (a) those formed in the manner of 
guanos; (b) the deposits formed in the bottoms of fresh- water swamps, 
sometimes in connection with deposits of bog iron ore (hematite); and 
(c) deposits which are the result of the long-continued decay of rocks 
containing a small portion of lime phosphate intermingled with lime 
carbouate, as, for instance, the deposits of Xorth Carolina. This super- 
ficial group of deposits has no other common feature save that they are 
on the surface and are due to causes now or recently in action. 

(2) Deposits of the Tertiary and Upper Cretaceous. These deposits 
are generally the result of reactious which took place on ancient land 
surfaces, the phosphatic matter being such as formed in swamp beds 
or iu ablation deposits like those of the Caroliuas or ot eastern England. 
Below the level of the Cretaceous no important deposits of phosphate 
have been found in the vast section of rocks which lies between that 
era and the Devonian horizons. 

(3) In the horizons below the level of the Upper Silurian bedded rock 
phosphates and apatite deposits occur. These infra-Devonian bedded 
rock phosphates seem to have derived their phosphatic matter from the 
animals, brachiopods and small crustaceans, which separated that sub- 
stance from the sea insects or other food which the old oceans afforded. 

<485) 



12 DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME. [bull.,46. 

These phosphate-bearing invertebrates appear to have been particularly 
abundant in the early Paleozoic seas. 

(4) Below the level of the Silurian the phosphatic deposits which have 
been worked probably belong altogether to the class of apatites or crys- 
tallized lime phosphates, and are probably all new deposits. They evi- 
dently occur through a large part of the Laurentian section, though, so 
far, the known deposits of economic importance are possibly limited to 
one portion of that vast series of rocks. 

The apparent absence of phosphatic deposits of economic importance 
in the section between the Devonian and the Cretaceous is remarkable. 
It is possible that it may be due to our lack of knowledge as to the 
chemical character of the deposits in those parts of the earth's crust. 
It is more likely, however, that such deposits do not there exist, owing 
to the fact that the invertebrate species of animals which secrete phos- 
phatic matter in their skeletons became relatively less abundant in the 
middle portion of the geological section ; while the vertebrate species, 
the birds which accumulate guanos and the fishes which afford an abun- 
dance of bones and teeth to littoral deposits, as well as the mammalia 
whose skeletons occasionally form a considerable element in the later 
deposits, did not begin to contribute phosphatic matter to the rocks until 
comparatively modern times. 

The absence of phosphatic deposits in the Upper Paleozoic and Lower 
Mesozoic strata is well shown by the fact that, while in the Carbonifer- 
ous and the Triassic beds there are abundant land surfaces which have 
been carefully explored, no phosphatic deposits of economic importance 
have been found in them, while on the relatively very limited areas of 
the Tertiary and Cretaceous formations where old land areas have been 
explored a large number of deposits of beds of nodular phosphate have 
been found. 

From the facts set forth in Dr. Penrose's report and the unpublished 
results of certain studies on swamps, we may draw certain general con- 
clusions as to the best method of prosecuting the search for unknown 
deposits of American phosphates. These conclusions are essentially as 
follows : 

First, as regards the superficial and recently formed deposits of phos- 
phates. We are driven to the conclusion that this class of deposits may 
reasonably be sought for wherever soft calcareous beds containing a cer- 
tain amount of lime phosphate have been subjected to long continued 
leaching by waters containing the share of carbonic acid gas which be- 
longs to all rain-water after it has passed through the mat of decayed 
vegetation. As long ago as 1870 I became convinced that it was to the 
leaching out of the carbonate of lime by the carbonated water of the soil 
bed that we owe in the main the concentration of the nodular phos- 
phates of South Carolina. 1 Although it is still necessary to explain 
i See Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. 13, 1871, p. 222. 
(486) 



6HALEK.J 



INTRODUCTION. 13 



many of the details of this process to adapt it to the peculiar circum- 
stances of particular deposits, it seems to me that it is the key to the 
most common forms of superficial accumulations of nodular phosphates. 
In an admirable description of the phosphate beds in the neighborhood 
of Mons, in Belgium, by Mr. F. L. Cornet, 1 that distinguished author 
has independently propounded this simple hypothesis, and several 
other writers on the subject have apprehended the importance of this 
leaching action. 

It is evidently essential to this process of concentration that the sur- 
face of the deposits which are leaching away should have been preserved 
from the action of mechanical erosion, which would have prevented the 
formation of phosphatic concentrates. 

Inquiry into the conditions of the swamp deposits of this country has 
satisfied me that beneath the surface of many of our fresh- water marshes, 
and probably in a lesser degree beneath the marine deposits of the same 
nature, there isa more or less important concentration of lime phosphates 
constantly going on. The effect of this action is seen in the remarkable 
fitness of these fresh-water swamp soils for the production of grain 
crops. For instance, in the case of the Dismal Swamp district in Vir- 
ginia and Xorth Caroliua we find that the soils on which the swamp de- 
posit rests are extremely barren, while in the mud that has accumulated 
beneath the swamp we have a rich store of phosphates, potash, and 
soda, which causes the soil of these swamps to be extremely well suited 
to grain tillage as soon as it is drained. In a similar way in the swamps 
of New England and elsewhere we find the bog-iron ores which are fre- 
quently accumulated in their bottoms very rich in phosphatic matter. 
The evidence is not yet complete that this phosphatic material becomes 
aggregated into nodules in the swamp muds, but the number of cases 
in which nodules have been found in this position makes it quite likely 
that the nodulation of the material may go on in that position. The 
present condition of the inquiry goes, in a word, to show that wherever 
we have a region long overlaid by swampy matter we may expect a 
certain concentration of lime phosphates in the lower part of the marsh 
deposit. Wherever the swamp area lies upon somewhat phosphatic 
marls which have been slowly washed away by the downward leaching 
of the waters charged with the acids arising from decayed vegetation, 
or where the swamp deposits, even when not resting on such marls, are 
in a position to receive the waste from beds containing phosphates, we 
may expect to find a considerable concentration of phosphatic matter 
in the swamp bed. By the erosion of these swamps we may have the 
nodules of phosphate concentrated in beds such as occupy the estuaries 
of the rivers near Charleston, S. C. 

The area of swamp lands which fulfill these conditions is very large. 
They exist in numerous areas in more than half the so-called Southern 

1 See Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc. Loudon, vol. 42, 1886, p. 325. 

(1ST) 



14 DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME. [bull. 46. 

States. At present it can only be said that they afford the conditions 
which, so for as the theory goes, should lead to the accumulation of 
phosphatic deposits of greater or less importance. It will be a simple 
matter to explain these deposits, though it is a task requiring a pa- 
tient study of a large field. Although it is likely that the phosphatic 
materials will be fouud aggregated into nodules at many points in this 
area it will not be safe to assume that they will be found in the same 
form as those which occur about Charleston, S. C. The nodules found 
in the beds about the last named point, though in my opinion originating 
beneath swampy deposits, have apparently been, in part at least, swept 
from their original beds by the rivers which enter the sea at that point 
and have thus been concentrated in estuariue deposits. 

Although local concentrations of phosphatic nodules other than those 
now known may well be sought for in the Southern States, I do not 
think that the precise conditions or character of the deposits as found 
at Charleston should be expected to repeat themselves elsewhere. It 
is characteristic of the process of concentration of phosphatic, as well 
as of other matter into nodules that the material takes on a great 
variety of aspects, each proper to a particular site, and this although 
the surrounding circumstances of the several localities may apparently 
be identical. 

Next lower on the geologic section we have, in the Tertiary region of 
the Mauvaises Terres, extensive deposits of vertebrate remains which 
may possibly yield some commercially important supplies of bone phos- 
phates. Although none of the existing sources of supply of these ma- 
terials come from deposits of the nature of those found in Nebraska, 
the conditions of that remarkable region are so peculiar that it will not 
be well to pass it by without inquiry. 

While the American Cretaceous deposits are, as a whole, decidedly 
different from those of the Old World, the Greensand beds of the 
section in the two countries present considerable likeness in their char- 
acters. It is probable that in this country, as in Europe, considerable 
parts of the Cretaceous section are somewhat phosphatic, and that those 
beds containing disseminated phosphatic matter have been in many 
places exposed to the process of leaching in former geologic periods. 
Therefore we may reasonably search in the Cretaceous beds of this 
country for the same class of phosphatic deposits which have proved so 
important in the northern parts of Europe. 

Although some peculiar deposits of phosphate have been found in the 
Devonian rocks of Nassau, it may safely be assumed that below the line 
of the Cretaceous we have no facts to guide us in our search for phos- 
phates until we come to the horizon of the Upper Silurian limestones, at 
about the level of the uppermost beds of the Upper Silurian, as far as 
that level can be determined by the perplexing assemblage of fossils. 
There occurs in Bath County, Ky., a thick bed of much decayed, very 
phosphatic siderite. This deposit covers but a small area and con- 

(488) 



SHALEIt. | 



INTRODUCTION. 



15 



sists of n patch of limestone about fifteen feet thick, which has been 
converted into sitlerite by the iuleaohing of iron-bearing waters from 
the ferruginous Ohio (Devonian) shales which formerly overlaid the 
bed. Since the escarpment of the Ohio shales retreated beyond this 
bed it has been subjected to oxidation and is now in the main converted 
iuto a much decayed limonite. Beneath this limonite there is a green- 
ish, argillaceous sand which contains frequent nodules of lime phosphate. 
These nodules are smooth-surfaced and not unlike some of the nodules 
from the Carolina district. They contain as much as 92 per cent, of lime 
phosphate. It seems likely that these nodules were formed by the leach- 
ing out of the lime phosphate from the overlying ferruginous layers, 
which has completely removed the lime carbonate, but has not removed 
the whole of the less soluble lime phosphate (Fig. 1). 










T V . V ^ ' ' a v> ■ * ** ' m tf 0\ 



Fig. 1. Section at Olympia, Bath County, Ky. (Preston ore bed). A, soil; B, limonite iron ore,- 
C. sklerite iron ore; D, phospbatic nodules. Scale: 1 inch = 12 feet. 

Although this deposit of nodules is not of sufficient abundance to have 
any economic value, it is clear that we have in it an indication of a method 
where, by a slight variation of the conditions, important beds of nodular 
phosphates might be found. 

Iu the horizons of the Cambro-Silurian section, or, as it is generally 
called, the Lower Silurian, there is much greater reason to expect the 
occurrence of workable phosphates than in the beds immediately above. 
It is likely that the most important of the Spanish deposits belong in 
strata of this period, and the Welsh deposits of this general age are of 
noteworthy extent. We know T , moreover, that the commoner marine 
animals of this part of the geological section were particularly adapted 
for the secretion of lime phosphate. 

The search of this portion of the section for phosphates should be 
directed to two ends: first, to finding beds of very phospbatic limestone; 
and, second, to discovering veins formed by a segregation of lime phos- 
phates either in the form of the Spanish deposits referred to by Dr. 
Penrose or iu the condition of nodular accumulations. The area of rocks 
of these Lower Silurian and Cambrian periods in this country is very 
extensive, and so far there has been no search of them for phospbatic 
materials. The little work done in Kentucky during the above-men- 



(489) 



16 DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME. [bull. 46. 

tioned geological survey served only to show that the proportion of 
lime phosphate in the rocks is extremely variable, and that in certain 
beds it is so considerable that the material might advantageously be 
used in a local way for fertilizing purposes. 1 

The search for phosphatic materials in the stratified rocks demands 
a method of inquiry that has not yet been applied to the study of our 
rocks. It seems to me that the method, or rather methods, should be 
as follows: 

First, there should be a careful inquiry to determine the share in 
which the several important groups of rock-making organic forms con- 
tribute phosphatic matter to strata. This can be accomplished by care- 
fully comparing the chemical character of particular strata with the 
fossils the beds contain. When this determination is made we shall 
have one means of guiding our inquiries, which will surely be of great 
value in the search for bedded phosphates. 

Secondly, we should have a carefully executed chemical survey of our 
stratified rocks. Enough can be gathered from the scattered records of 
chemical analysis to make it plain that certain features of the chemical 
character of particular beds or divisions of strata often extend later- 
ally for great distances. This is shown in a general way by the char- 
acter of the soils formed of the waste of particular horizons ; for in- 
stance, the deposits of the horizon on which lies the Cincinnati group 
of this country and the equivalent deposits of Europe are nearly always 
well suited to grasses and grains and have a great endurance to tillage. 
It is now desirable to take these beds which promise to afford mineral 
manures and subject each stratum to analyses which shall determine the 
quantity of phosphoric matter, soda, and pdtash which they contain, so 
that their fitness for use as mineral manures may be ascertained. 

Below the level of the Silurian and Cambrian strata, and partly in 
those sections where they have been much metamorphosed, lies the field 
of the vein phosphates. It is more than likely that in this vast thick- 
ness of rocks with their development in this country tbere are many 
extensive sources of this class of phosphates which await discovery. 
As yet no careful search has been made for such veins in any part of 
the United States. The regions most likely to contain such deposits 
are found in the central parts of the Appalachian system of mountains, 

1 Among the analyses recently made by the chemists of the Kentucky geological 
survey is one which indicates the presence of phosphoric acid in considerable quan- 
tities in the limestones of Corniferous age exposed at Stewart's mill, on Lulbegrud 
Creek, in Clark County. This partial analysis, for which I am indebted to Mr. John 
R. Proctor, the present director of the Kentucky survey, is as follows, viz : 

Lime carbonate 21. 380 

Magnesia 3. 055 

Phosphoric acid 9. 710 

Potash 830 

Soda 228 

Siliceous nodules insoluble in acids 27. 580 

(490) 



siiAi.EK.] INTRODUCTION. 17 

especially in the section from Virginia southward j in the Archaean dis- 
trict of Missouri and Arkansas, and in the vast region of highly meta- 
morphic rocks of the Cordilleran district, extending' from the Rocky 
Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. It is true that at present the economic 
value of phosphatic deposits in the western part of the continent would 
probably be small, on account of the great cost of transportation to the 
seaboard districts; but the growing use of phosphatic manures in the 
Mississippi Valley and the rapid exhaustion of the soils of that dis- 
trict will soon give commercial importance to any sources of supply of 
phosphates that may be found in any parts of the Cordilleras which 
are convenient to transportation. 

A proper study of the mineral manures of this country can best be 
carried on by means of a well considered cooperation between geolog- 
ical explorers and the experiment stations of the several States. At 
present the methods of using mineral phosphates are extremely costly : 
not only is the material brought into the soluble condition by satura- 
tion in sulphuric acid, but it is then mingled with ammoniacal and other 
matter to increase its effect as a fertilizer. The result is that, although 
a ton of Carolina phosphate now costs but $6, the average price of the 
manufactured product to the consumer at the phosphate factories is 
about $30 per ton. It is probable that the essential value of the phos- 
phatic ingredients to the plants of most soils is not enhanced by this 
costly treatment, though an incidental but dearly purchased gain, in the 
case of some crops, is obtained from the ammoniacal matter. The only 
effect of the superphosphatizing on the phosphatic matter is to make it 
more immediately absorbable by the plants. If placed on the soil with- 
out any other preparation than grinding, lime phosphate will slowly 
pass into a condition in which it may be absorbed by plants, while if 
treated with sulphuric acid it is for a time at least in a soluble state. 
That this treatment is not essential is well shown by the fact that the 
phosphatic matter derived from the rocks is brought into a condition 
for absorption by the ordinary process of decay in soils. Our present 
costly method of applying phosphates has come about through the 
commercial history of artificial manures, which is as follows: 

Before guanos were brought into use the English farmers had learned 
that they could profitably use the phosphatic marls of their Tertiary and 
Cretaceous deposits without any artificial preparation. If guanos had 
not existed it seems likely that mineral phosphates would have always 
been used in this way. When the Peruvian guanos came into use 
they afforded a much more stimulating material than any other pur- 
chasable manures, and in a short time they established the type of com- 
mercial fertilizers. When the sources of supply of these guanos be- 
came in part exhausted, artificial compounds, formed on a basis of rock 
phosphates or apatites, were devised to take their place. These were made 
to imitate the effect of the guanos as closely as possible. Like them, they 
Bull. 40 2 (491) 



18 DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME. [bull. 46. 

gave a quick though temporary stimulus to the soil, enabling the farmer 
to obtain the greater part of the return for his investment in the season 
following the application of the high priced manure. Very generally 
the fertilizer, guano or compounded material, was applied witb the 
seed or dibbled in the soil alongside the young plant, so that it would 
be immediately available in the first stages of its growth, and, what is a 
more importaut consideration, that it might take less of the substance 
to give the effect than if it were sown broadcast over the surface or 
mingled with the soil of the whole field. 

In this way a habit has been established in the art of using phos- 
phates, as well as in the composition of the material, which, like all com- 
mercial habits, is hard to overcome. The question to be determined is 
as to the utility of phosphates with other modes of treatment than those 
which are applied to the imitation guanos. At present this treatment 
requires the commingling of the lime phosphate with a number of costly 
substances. The manufacture can only be advantageously carried on 
at points remote from the districts where the materials are produced 
and remote from the fields where they are used, so that the costs of 
transportation are great. The problems to be solved by the agricultural 
stations are as follows : 

(1) As to the effect, immediate as well as permanent, arising from the 
application of ground phosphatic rock commingled with other materials 
on soils used for the production of different crops. 

(2) As to the degree of comminution of the material which is most 
advantageous. It seems possible that fine pulverizing may take the 
place in a measure of superphosphatizing. 

(3) As to the effect of mingling the powdered rock with ordinary 
barn yard manure, peat, and other similar substances. 

(4) As to the effect of lime phosphate used alone on soils containing 
different mineral constituents, as, for instance, those having considera- 
ble proportions of lime carbonate and those having but little of that 
substance. 

(5) As to the proportion of the lime phosphate which it is necessary 
to apply in order to produce different degrees of effect upon the fertility 
of soils. 

It is desirable that these and other experiments should be tried at a 
number of stations in different parts of the country, in order that the 
needs of various crops may be considered and the effect of the fertiliz- 
ers on different classes of soils ascertained. 

The effect of a small amount of lime phosphate on the fertility of the 
soil is clearly great, but so far we do not know with accuracy the 
amount necessary to produce a given effect. The range in phosphoric 
acid contents in the soils of Kentucky, as determined from many hundred 
analyses, varies from 0.540 to 0.06 1. 1 In most cases the fitness of the 

l See report of Dr. Robert Peter id Repts. Geol. Survey Kentucky, new series, vol. 
5, 1878, N. S. Shaler, Director: 

(492) 



■haler.] INTRODUCTION. 19 

soil for grain tillage is measurably proportionate to the phosphatic con- 
tents. It seems almost certain, though not yet demonstrated, that the 
greater part of the phosphatic matter in the soil is in the state known 
as insoluble, and that it only becomes in small part, year by year, soluble, 
or, in other words, fitted for assimilation by plants. Whenever the soil 
contains the quantity of lime which characterizes the better class of 
Kentucky soils it is supposed that even if soluble phosphatic manures 
are applied the superphosphate becomes again insoluble by taking 
up a molecule of lime. It is therefore an interesting question as to the 
means by which the lime phosphate enters the plants. It may be that 
the solution is effected through the action of the various hutnic acids 
of the soil or it may arise from some specific change which takes place 
at the contact of the soil with the roots. It is evident that this point 
requires precise determination, for on it will depend further experi- 
ments as to the methods of applying phosphatic manures- 
There is yet another point on which we need experiments. Many of 
our rock phosphates, especially those which are distinctly bedded, con- 
tain low peicentages of phosphatic matter. Many of our lime phos- 
phates contain crystals of apatite aud calcite so intermingled that it is 
not possible to separate them ; yet from these deposits it will be easy 
to produce a mixture of lime carbonate and lime phosphate containing 
from 10 to 20 per cent, of phosphoric acid. The value of such material 
for manure has never been determined. If it can be used in a way which 
will give to the fields the full value for both the lime and. the phosphorus 
it will open a way for an extensive production of cheap fertilizers. 

The foregoing considerations give the general results of the prelimi- 
nary inquiry into phosphatic manures of which Dr. Penrose's work forms 
a part. Before we go further into these studies I much desire to have 
the criticism and advice of others who have considered this subject. It 
is with this view that I have ventured to give in the foregoing pages an 
account of the aim of the inquiries I have in hand. The questions are 
at once chemical aud geological, and demand much co-operation for their 
solution. Much of the work of searching for the unknown phosphatic 
deposits of this country will necessarily have to be undertaken by local 
students of geology or by commercial explorers in search of such de- 
posits. Unfortunately, the unfamiliar aspect of the various forms of 
phosphatic deposits will make this task under any circumstances diffi- 
cult. There is no substance of equally wide diffusion among those of 
considerable commercial importance which, in the present state of pop- 
ular knowledge, so readily escapes detection as lime phosphate. It may 
be hoped that the following memoir may make it easier for explorers to 
recognize this class of deposits. 

My own as well as Dr. Penrose's acknowledgments are due to many 
persons who have given him aid in the prosecution of his work. To 
Prof. Charles U. Shepard, jr., of Charleston, S. C, Dr. Penrose is par- 

(493) 



20 DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME. | bull. 46. 

ticularly indebted for much information and access to a great deal of 
valuable matter contained in his unpublished notes on American and 
foreign phosphatic deposits. 

Injustice to Harvard University it should be said that the following 
report, although designed as a memoir of the U. S. Geological Survey, 
was used in manuscript form by Dr. Penrose as his thesis for the de- 
gree of doctor of philosophy in that institution. 

(494) 



NATURE AND ORIGIN OF DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME. 

By R. A. P. Penrose, Jr. 



IMPORTANCE OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME IN NATURE. 

Phosphorus is one of the most universally distributed of all the ele- 
ments. It is found in all animal and vegetable matter, as well as in 
most eruptive aud sedimentary rocks. Phosphoric acid composes over 
40 per cent, of the ashes of bones and in the vegetable kingdom it is 
especially abundant in the seeds of plants. Thus the ash of wheat con- 
tains over 49 per cent, of phosphoric acid. 

It has been estimated that for each cow kept on a pasture through 
the summer there are carried off, in veal, butter and cheese, not less 
than fifty pounds of phosphate of lime. Consequently it will be seen 
that phosphoric acid is one of the most important elements of plant 
food, and no soil can be productive which is destitute of it. The neces- 
sity of restoring phosphoric acid to an exhausted soil has been ac- 
knowledged from very ancient times, though the cause of its stimulat- 
ing effect was .unknown until a comparatively late date. In the days of 
the Romans the excrements of birds, from pigeon-houses aud bird-cages, 
brought a high price, aud Edrisi relates that the Arabians, as early as 
1154 A. D., used the guano deposits found along their coast for agri- 
cultural purposes. Garcilaso de la Vega (Comentarios Eeales, lib. V, 
1G04) says that the Peruvians, in the twelfth century, used the guano 
beds on their islands as fertilizers. Of such importance did they esteem 
the material of these beds that the penalty of death was imposed by the 
early Incas on any one found killing the birds that made these precious 
deposits. It was not, however, until the early part of this century, when 
Liebig and others showed the important part played by phosphoric acid 
in vegetable life, that artificial phosphatic manures came into use, aud 
it is only in the last twenty years that the mining of natural phosphates 
with their conversion into superphosphates has assumed its present 
great and steadily increasing importance. 

CLASSIFICATION OF DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME. 

The classification of deposits of phosphate of lime is a matter attended 
with many difficulties, not only on account of the great variety of forms 
in which phosphate of lime opcurs, but also because many varieties grad- 

(495) 21 



22 DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME. 



[bull. 46. 



nally blend into one another, thus often rendering it uncertain to which 
class a special deposit should be referred. The classification given be- 
low is based mainly on the chemical composition of the deposits. These 
are grouped under two principal headings, namely, mineral phosphates 
and rock phosphates. 1 The former includes all deposits of phosphate 
of lime which, besides having the other properties inherent in a true 
mineral, have a definite chemical composition or at least show a strong 
tendency toward such properties and composition. The latter includes 
thosedeposits which, having no definite chemical composition and lack- 
ing the homogeneous nature and other fixed characteristics of a true 
mineral, cannot be classed with mineral phosphates. These two classes 
are again subdivided as follows : 

^ ADatites 5 Fluor- apatites. 

Mineral phosphates. < F ' \ Chlor-apatites. 

( Phosphorites, 
f ( Loose nodules. 

j Amorphous nodular phosphates. < Cemented nodules or conglotn- 
I ( erates. 

Rock phosphates. ^ Phosphatic limestone heds. 
Guanos. \ Soluble guanos. 
I Leached guanos. 
Bone beds. 



The various phosphate deposits of North and South America, Europe, 
Africa, and other localities will be treated under the different divisions 
of the above classification, each deposit being described under the head- 
ing to which it belongs. Mineral phosphates will be taken up first, and 
then the various representatives of rock phosphates will be described. 
Special attention will be given to the phosphate deposits of the United 
States and Canada, which were visited and studied by the writer. 



MINERAL PHOSPHATES. 
APATITES. 

Apatite is found in both stratified and crystalline rocks, but is much 
more plentiful in the latter, especially in metamorphic limestone, syen- 
ite, garnetiferous, hornblendic, and pyroxenic, gneiss, mica-schist, and 
igneous and volcanic rocks. 

The mineral occurs in both the massive and the crystalline form. It 
belongs to the hexagonal system of crystallization, has a vitreous or 
subresinous luster, is translucent and sometimes transparent, has a 
hardness of 5, a specific gravity of 3.17 to 3.25, is brittle, of a white, yel- 
low, green, or red color, gives off phosphorescent light when heated, 

1 It will be seen that the determination which phosphate shall be classed under 
minerals and which under rocks must in certain cases be somewhat arbitrary, but 
the classification is intended simply as a matter of convenience in describing the 
various deposits, and as such answers its purpose sufficiently well. 

(496) 



PSN*K06E.J 



APATITES OF CANADA. 23 



and becomes electric by application of beat or friction. It occurs prin- 
cipally iu the early crystalline rocks and is found in New York, New 
Jersey, Maine, Canada, and other places in North America. In Europe 
it is found in England, France, Saxony, Tyrol, Bohemia, Spain, Nor- 
way, and many other regions. The only deposits of economic impor- 
tance as yet discovered are in Canada, Norway, and Spain. 

Prof. J. 1). Dana gives as a formula of apatite GasOfePs+ifOVFs), in 
which the fluorine and the chlorine may replace each other in any pro- 
portion. When there is more fluorine than chlorine present the min- 
eral is called iiuor-apatite, and when less it is called chlor-apatite. 1 The 
apatites of Canada and of Spain, as well as most of those from Norway, 
are essentially iluor-apatites, though they almost always contain 0.01 
to 0.5 of chlorine. Occasionally apatites are found free from chlorine, 
as some of those of Nassau and the Tyrol, but they are never found en- 
tirely tree from fluorine. The apatite of Suarum, Norway, contains 
more chlorine than any other known apatite, amounting, as it does, to 
2.71 per cent, of that element. 2 The apatite deposits of Canada, being 
at present more extensively worked than any others and consequently 
better known, will be described first ; after them the apatites of Norway 
and Spain. 



APATITES OF CANADA. 



Phosphates were discovered in considerable quantities in Canada be- 
fore the middle of this century, and were described by Dr. T. Sterry 
Hunt in the Canadian Geological Survey Eeports for 1848. Shortly 
afterwards they were mined in the counties of Lanark and Leeds, On- 
tario. But the first regular mining operations of any considrable im- 
portance were begun in 1871, iu the townships of Buckingham and 
Portland, Ottawa County, Quebec, where apatite had been discovered 
several years later than in Ontario. The first company to operate on 
a large scale here was known as the Buckingham Mining Company. It 
worked successfully until 1875, when a sudden fall in the prices of the 
phosphate market led to a stoppage. For several years after this the 
mines were worked by private parties, until, in the years 1881 to 1883, 
the large mining companies which now control the richest properties 
in Canada were organized. Many of the phospliate properties in On- 
tario have beeu worked by the so-called "contract system." Under 
this system the farmers of the neighborhood, whenever they are with- 
out employment, blast out a little phosphate. The result of such a 
method is, of course, that the whole of a property is soon cat up with 
small pits and trenches, rarely exceeding twenty feet in depth, and often 
interfering considerably with later and larger mining operations. 

There are two principal districts in Canada where apatite occurs in 
considerable quantities. Thefirst is in Ottawa County, Province of Que- 

1 J. D. Dana: Manual of Mineralogy anrl Litbology, '8^3, p. 213. 
2 0. Ramon T. Mnuos de Lima: Estudios quiraicos sobre ecouomia agricola en 
general, y particularmente sobre la importancia de los abonos fosfatados. 

(497) 



24 



DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME. 



[BULL. 46. 



bee. It consists of a belt running from near the Ottawa River, on the 
south, for over sixty miles in a northerly direction, through Bucking- 
ham, Portland, Templeton, Wakefield, Denholm, Bowman, Hincks, and 
other townships. The belt probably stretches still farther to the north, 
but the country in that direction has been but little explored, and is 
scarcely known, except to trappers and Indians. The belt averages in 
width from fifteen to twenty-five miles. 




Fig. 2. Apatite in the Bonanza pit, Union mine, Portland, Ottawa County, Quebec, Canada. A, apa- 
tite; B, mica; C, white feldspar: D, pink and white feldspar, mica, and pyroxene. Scale: 1 inch = 
16 feet. 

The second phosphate district is in Ontario, principally in the counties 
of Leeds, Lanark, Frontenac, Addiugton, and Renfrew. This district 
is much larger than that of Quebec. But the apatite is much more 
scattered, and, though special deposits are in some places much more 
continuous than those of Quebec, the mineral has not yet been discov- 
ered in such large pockets as occur in the latter district. The belt 
which contains the deposits runs from about fifteen miles north of the 
St. Lawrence River in a northerly direction to the Ottawa River, a dis- 
tance of about one hundred miles, (t varies from fifty to seventy-five 
miles in breadth. 

The above-mentioned districts are the regions where apatite has been 
found most plentifully, but it also occurs in other places ? though, so 
far as has been discovered, in much smaller quantities. 1 

The apatite occurs in the upper part of the Lower Lauren tian forma- 
tion, the horizon being characterized by large quantities of pyroxene 
rock. The principal phosphate-bearing baud consists of quartzites, 
gneisses, schists, feldspar, and pyroxenic and calcareous rocks, having 
an aggregate thickness, according to Veunor, of twenty-six hundred to 

1 Lately it has been found that apatite is very generally distributed in Pontiac 
County, Quebec. 

(498) 



APATITE LDA. 25 

thirty-nine hundred feet All the beds are more or less completely 
metamorphosed, being sometimes indistinctly stratified and at other 
times massive and with no traces of bedding. The rocks, often con- 
torted, all dip at a vertical or almost vertical angle. Sometimes the 
gneiss contains large quantities of mica and has a distinctly foli- 
ated structure. At other times it is impregnated with large quanti- 
ties of pyroxene, as in the Quebec district. In the Ontario district 
this pyroxene is often replaced by hornblende of a dark-green, lus- 
trous character. A highly garnetiferous gneiss is also often found 
in large quantities in some of the apatite localities. Iu the Que- 
bec district there is a series of trap dikes running in a general east 
and west direction. By some they are supposed to be connected with 
the occurrence of the apatite. But the trap is. probably, of a later date 
than the apatite, as it is sometimes found passing through pockets of 
that mineral (Fig. -4). 




Fig. 3. Section on south side of hill on north side of Rheaumo Lake, Templeton. Ottawa County. Que- 
bec. Canada. A, stratified rock; B. pyroxene: C, feldspar. Scale: 1 inch = 16 feet. 

The principal difference between the country rock of the Quebec dis- 
trict and that of the Ontario district is that the rocks in the latter re- 
gion are often muc h more hornblendic than those in the former, and 
are often found in the form of a more or less hornblendic gneiss. The 
country in the Quebec apatite district is rough and mountainous. The 
hills are of a remarkably uniform height, rarely rising over rive 
hundred to six hundred feet above the level of the neighboring Du 
Lievre River. In Ontario, on the other hand, the land in Leeds, 
Lanark, Frontenac, and Addington Couutiest i* low, and sometimes 
shows a smooth, glaciated surface, covered by a thin layer of soil. 
In Renfrew County, however, the land is more hilly, and resembles 
that of the Ottawa district. As before remarked, the apatite occurs, 
almost without exception, in association with pyroxenic or hornblen- 
dic rocks. This rule holds especially true in the Quebec district, 

(409) * 



M 



DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME. 



[bull. 4§. 



where the phosphate has never yet been found without being asso- 
ciated with pyroxene rock, possibly often of vein origin. This, called 
pyroxenite by Prof. T. S terry Hunt, occurs in ridges,, running in a gen- 
eral northeast and southwest direction, following the general course of 




Fig. 4. Dike at Union mine, Portland West, Ottawa County, Quebec, Canada. A, apatite ; B, trap; 

C, pyroxene. 

the strike of the country gneisses. It forms, together with lilac-colored 
orthoclase, quartzite, and trap, the mass of many of the hills in the 
phosphate district, while the stratified and massive gneisses are often 
seen bordering the sides of the ridges, as shown in Fig. 5. 




Fig. 5. Ideal section southeast and northwest through the Emerald mine hill, Buckingham, Ottawa 
County, Quebec, Canada. A, country quartzite, gneiss, etc.; B, pyroxene. Scale: 1 inch = 180 feet. 

The pyroxene rock is never found distinctly bedded, thougu occasion- 
ally a series of parallel lines can be traced through it, which, while pos- 
sibly the remains of stratification, are probably often joint planes. Some- 
times, when the pyroxenite has been weathered, apparent signs of bed- 

(500) 






APATITES OF CANADA. 



27 



ding are brought out, which are often parallel to the bedding of the 
country rock. Thus at Bob's Lake mine, in Frontenae County, a rich- 
green pyroxenite occurs which exhibits this structure. For 10 feet 

down from the surface this apparent bedding can be distinguished. It 
gradually grows fainter, until it disappears in the massive pyroxenite 
below. A similar phenomenon has been observed at the Emerald mine, 
Buckingham Township, Ottawa County, Quebec, and at several other 
places (Fig. (>). It can also be seen in the crystalline rocks on Newport 
Island, opposite Tiverton, K. I. There, for a depth of from one to two 
feet, an apparent stratification can be seen, and the rock below gradually 
becomes more massive, until it merges into the apparently homogeneous 
mass of the hill. 





i-i— l—i— i—i— i— i—i— 1—1— i— i— i— i— i— 

,J,_|_,-|-|_|-|-l-!-|-|-l--|-l-|-|-l-|-l-|-l-|-/-l-l-l 
^^l-l-t-l-j.; _|-|_|_|_|_l_|_l_l-l-l-l-U-l-l-l-'-l-l- 



l-l 



I— ■ — a — »— i— i— l — i — l—i — i^^l — 1—1 — f — ? — 1 —1 — 1—» — *— 

i_i_i_i-i-'t-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-l-i 
l-l- l-l-l-l-l- l-l- l-l-H-H-l- 

|_|_l_|_|_l_|_l_l_!_t_J-l-l-l-l 

_|_l_l_l_l_l-|-l-|-l-l-l-H-l 

I- 1- 1- l-l- l-l- l-i-l-i-l- l-l-l- 
■ i i i i i ■■ i i i i i i i i 



Tin. 6. Section in a pit near the Emerald mine (looking west). Buckingham. Ottawa County, Quebec, 
Canada. A, apatite; B. pyroxene; C, feldspar; D, pyiite. Scale, 1 inch = 6 feet. 

The pyroxene occurs in several different forms. Sometimes it is 
massive, of a light or dark green color, and opaque or translucent ; at 
other times it is granular and easily crumbled. Occasionally it occurs 
in a distinctly crystalline form, the crystals being in color of different 
shades of a dull green, generally opaque or translucent, but sometimes, 
though rarely, almost transparent. The massive variety is the most 
common, and composes the greater part of the pyroxenites found in the 
phosphate districts. 

The associated feldspar is generally a crystalline orthoclase, vary- 
ing in color from white to pink and lilac; occasionally, as in Denholm 
and Bowman Townships, Ottawa County, Quebec, it occurs as a whit- 
ish brown, tiuely crystalline rock. The trap is of the dark, almost 
black, variety. Thin sections under a microscope show it to have a very 

(501) 



28 



DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME, 



[bull. 46. 



variable composition— -a net-work of striated blades of triclinic feld- 
spar, brownish augite, black opaque grains of magnetite, and, commonly, 
small quantities of a green, chloritic mineral. 1 The qnartzite is white, 
gray, or blue. The blue variety often contains specks of felsite. 
These pyroxenes, feldspars, and quartzites are often mixed up in a per- 
fect net- work, very similar to that seen at Marblehead, Mass., and at 




FlG. 7. Section of apatite vein near Smith's mine, Oso, Frontenae County, Ontario, Canada. A,, 
country syenite; B, red and green apatite. Scale: 1 inch = 8 feet. 

many places in the metamorphic rocks of Mount Desert Island. Often 
whole hills are formed of these rocks, mixed in various proportions 
(Figs. 8 and 9). The gneiss in some places has no distinct line of sepa- 
ration .from the pyroxene, but seems to have been impregnated with 
some of it, forming for a few feet from the line of contact a more or less 
pyroxenic gneiss, which is easily decayed and eroded by weathering 
(see Fiff. 3). 




FlG. 8. Horizontal view of surface rock at Turner's Island, Clear Lake, Canada. A, feldspar; 
B, pyroxenite; C, hornblende; D, feldspar dykes; E, soil. Scale: 1 inch = 6 feet. 

In the Ontario district, as mentioned before, the pyroxene is often re- 
placed by hornblende. Thus at Bell's mine, in Frontenae County, little 
or no pyroxene is met with, and in its place large quantities of dark 
green hornblende occur. The apatite here is found in a rock consisting 
1 B. J. Harrington : Geol. Survey Canada, Rept. Progress, 1377-78. 

mm . 



PENROSE.] 



APATITES OF CANADA. 



29 



of green hornblende and white feldspar, which forms a ridge about one 
hundred yards wide parallel to the strike of the country gneiss. To 
complete the list of rocks found in the apatite districts it is necessary 
to mention the large veins of crystalline calcite, which often contain 
serpentine and chiysotile. In the occurrence of these veins this Cana- 
dian apatite region is in marked contrast with that of Norway, where 
little calcareous matter is found. 




Fig. 9. Pyroxene surface, Star Hill. Union mine, Portland, East Ottawa County, Quebec, Canada. 
A, apatite; B, pyroxene; C, feldspar. Scale: 1 inch = 8 feet. 

The apatite of Canada is found occurring in a great variety of ways. 
Prof. T. Sterry Hunt regards most of the workable deposits as veins, 
but he thinks there are also some deposits which occur in beds. He has 
discovered small masses of apatite marking the lines of stratification in 










Fig. 10. Opening in west side of a hill near Smith's mine, Oso, Frontenac County, Ontario, Canada. 
A, country syenite; B, apa'ite. Scale: 1 inch = 24 feet. 

the pyroxene. 1 An instance of this was seen by the writer in an old pit 
in Buckingham Township, Ottaw.a County, Quebec, where the apparent 
lines of stratification were marked by bands of apatite (see Fig. 6). 

'Geol. Survey Canada, Kent. Progress for 1863. 
(503) 



30 



DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OP LIME. 



[ BULL. 46. 



Professor Hunt thinks that most of the deposits of apatite are concre- 
tionary vein stones and have resulted from a hot- water solution. He 
bases his belief upon several characteristic facts concerning Canada 
apatite, such as the rounded form of many ot the apatite crystals, which 




Fig. 11. Bowlder of country rock embedded in pyroxene etc., High Rock mine, Portland West, 
Ottawa, County, Quebec, Canada. A, apatite; B, country gneiss; C, mica, pyroxene, and feldspar. 
Scale : 1 inch = 6 feet. 

he regards as due to the action of partial solution after deposition, and 
not of fusion, as suggested by Dr. Emmons. 1 Another argument is that 
one mineral in the vein is often found incr listing or containing frag- 




Fig. 12. Section of one of the northwest and southeast veins at Foxton's mine, Loughboro', Frontenac 
County, Ontario. C.mada. A, apatite; B, pyroxene; C, country gneiss. Scale: 1 inch = 7 feet. 

ments of another. Thus it is very common to find masses of crystalline 
calcite rounded into pebbles and buried in the centers of apatite crys- 
tals, which are themselves worn and rounded, showing, as Dr. Hunt 

1 Nat. Hist. New York, pt. 4, Geology, 1843, pp. 57, 58. Some of the dike stones of east- 
ern Massachusetts, especially those in the town of Somerviile, contain phosphate 
crystals which are similarly rounded.— N. S. S. 



(504) 



PEXROSE.] 



APATITES OF CANADA. 



31 



thinks, that the erosive action in the veins has taken place in at least 
two different epochs. The appearance in the veins of drasy cavities 

and the parallel deposition of the different minerals observed in many 
veins are also arguments for the theory of concretionary structure. 
Professor Dawson thinks that many of the deposits of the Ontario dis- 
trict are true beds. 1 




Flu. 13. Horizontal section showing natural cavity in vein, Longhboro', Froutenac County, Ontario, 
Canada. A, country gneiss: B, apatite; C, pyroxene ; D, calcite. Scale: 1 inch = 7 feet. 

Prof. B. J. Harrington 2 thinks that most of the phosphate deposits 
will come under the heading of fissure veins and pockets. He shows 
that many of the deposits cannot be beds, because they cut across the 
strata of the country rock. 

Many of the veins are of considerable length. A very continuous 
vein, composed of hornblende, calcite, and apatite, mixed in varying 
proportions and associated with sphene, zircon, mica, scapolite, etc., 
is found in Renfrew County, Ontario. This vein, or what may be a 
series of similar 4 and parallel veins, was traced by the writer for a dis- 
tance of three miles, and it is said by the native prospectors to be trace- 
able for 27 miles. It. runs in a X. 40° E. direction, widening and contract- 
ing at intervals and varying from three to thirty feet in thickness. It 
can best be examined on Turner's Island, in Clear Lake, Eenfrew County, 
Ontario, where several small openings have been made in it for the pur- 
pose of mining the rich apatite found there. 3 The island is three-quar- 
ters of a mile long and from one hundred feet to a quarter of a mile 
wide. The vein runs through its longer axis from one end to the other. 
The apatite occurs in crystals, sometimes in considerable quantities 
and composing the greater part of the vein matter and at other times 

'Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc. London, vol. 32, lb7o, p. 2s9. 
feol. Survey Canada, Kept. Progress for lS7r-'78-79. 

'The same or a similar vein is seen to great advantage on the laud of Xavier 
Plaunt, on the south side of Clear Lake. It widens and contracts at intervals and 
runs in the same general direction as the Turner's Island vein. 

(505) 



32 



DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME. 



[BULL. 46. 



scattered sparingly through a mass of the crystalline minerals which 
accompany it. Apatite crystals of immense size have been found here- 
One prism is said to have weighed seven hundred pounds ; a crystal of 
zircon, almost a foot in diameter, is also said to have been found in the 
same vein. A crystal of sphene from this locality in the Harvard Min- 
eral Cabinet measures over a foot in length. The country rock on the 
island consistsof a confused mass of feldspar, coarse-grained, unstratified 
gneiss, and of a rock composed of feldspar and hornblende. Small quan- 
tities of green pyroxene are also found (see Fig. 8). The vein is said to 
change into pure calcite at its extremities. It shows no signs, as far as 
seen, of banded or concretionary structure, but consists of a mass of 
crystallized minerals mixed in an apparently indiscriminate manner. 













































??fpt 












-■.i i,-;--:t:-. v -.:, 




I 


M^ 


^ffilljfipip 




^■p-.i) , ;, : .i:-; ; :;-p : ; . 






































iffl 


















v'ttii^'Jr'fi-i 










































i§^^^^#^& 


&. 










iySs rr 




f'^M 




1' -- : :'^:~-Srt' ','}■ '■',' '■' '.' ■ -'K7:"t ir'" : ' '-■ ; r r " 




Wsm 
















^.vr 


















' ■,'-,' -- 


-.'-c-qt-c- ^ 

























Fig. 14. Northeast side of a pit in the North Star mine, Portland East, Ottawa County, Quebec, 
Canada. A, apatite; B, pyroxene; C, feldspar. Scale: 1 inch = 10 feet. 

Like most apatite deposits in Canada, the vein has no sharp line of di- 
vision from the country rock, but gradually blends into it. The horn- 
blende in the country rock becomes more perfectly crystalline and oc- 
curs in larger masses as the vein is approached, until finally, when 
the vein is met, the hornblende and the feldspar crystallize out sepa- 
rately among the other minerals. " Such a blending of a vein with 
the walls," says Professor Dana, " is a natural result when its formation 
in a fissure takes place at a high temperature during the metamorphism 
or crystallization of the containing rock." 1 This blending of the country 
rock with the vein matter does not, however, always happen, as sev- 
1 Dana's Manual of Geology, 1875, p. 733. 
(506) 






PENROSE.] 



AfATITES OF CANADA. 



oral cases were found where the apatite and associated minerals came 
into direct and sharp contact with the country rock (see Figs. 7 and 20). 
Thus, on the land of the Sly brothers, in Oso, Frontenac County, Ontario, 
there is a vein two feet wide in a gneissic rock. The boundary lines of 
the vein are sharply defined and white, red, and transparent calcite is 
associated with pass-green hornblende and brown apatite, in a mass 
apparently devoid of any banded structure (see Fig. 7). The vein dips 
at an a Qgle of 8o D X. and strikes E. and TV. The country rock strikes N. 
20° E. and dips 40° to 45° ESE. A somewhat similar instance is seen 
in the same township at Boyd Smith's mine. Here were three veins 
apparently occupying joint planes, and parallel to one another (see Fig. 
10). The veins are composed principally of apatite and hornblende, 
and their general character is very similar to that of the last vein de- 
scribed. They strike X. 15° W. and dip at 10° NE. The strike of the 
country gneiss is iST. 35° E., clip 00° SE., so that it is evident that 
the deposits cannot be beds. They can be traced for 50 yards along 
the side of the hill. 





Fig. 15. Southwest side of a pit at j^orth Star mine, Portland East, Ottawa County, Quebec, Canada. 
A, apatite; B, pyroxene. Scale: linch= 10 fee*.. 

Some of the veins of apatite show a distinctly banded structure. 
On the land of James Foxton, in Frontenac County, township of Lough- 
boro', there is a series of gash-veins running in a general northwest and 
southeast direction. They are of all sizes, from small ones not two inches 
thick to large ones three to six feet wide. The general character of all of 
them is the same. They occur in the country gneiss and occupy an al* 
Bull. 4G 3 (507) 



34 



DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME. 



[BULL. 4ti. 



most vertical position. Fig. 12 shows a section of one of them, and most 
of the others are like it. It will be seen that the pyroxene lines both 
sides of the vein and the apatite comes in the middle. The strike and 
the width of nine of these veins were found to be : 

N. 11° W., sis inches wide. Keel apatite. 

N. 10° W., eighteen inches wide. Eed apatite. 

N. 8° W., one to three feet wide. Red apatite. 

N. 20° W., one foot wide. Eed apatite. 

N. 8° W., one foot wide. Red apatite. 

N. 35° W., six inches to one foot wide. Red apatite. 

N. 36° W., one foot wide. Red apatite. 

N. 45° W.,one foot wide. Red apatite. 

N. 30° W., one foot wide. Red apatite. 

The country gneiss is much contorted and strikes in various direc- 
tions. It has an almost vertical dip. On the same properties there are 
also other veins running in various directions, but they are generally of 
small extent. In one place a vein was seen composed on one side of 
a band of apatite and on the other of a band of pyrites of iron contain- 
ing masses of talc. 







TOm^U, 








B 




11111 




BftPBK 










m$0 




' ■''.-■'■ 




m 


BR 








^IWeSbsbl^^ 




■■ "■ 


■■■:■•]■> taKtttf ■^■ y 








jf 


'iiW^Bft^*M^ : '< 


m::::W' } m^: 






im 


'"mm 








/; Is;' 1 :--] 












f ; '^l 1 .: |-- 


" >: fi|Pj 
























B 










til? 








'h % mhr'.vm 










S If {Ispf-B 










~ 
















M0m 




' A IflSI! 




^fPS^ll 














lis 


~i'':''i'Vk :■. 














ISII 


-y0yWM ] W. 







Fig. 16. Southeast side of a pit at North Star mine, Portland East, Ottawa County, Quebec, Canada. 
A, apatite; B, pyroxene; C, feldspar; D, mica. Scale: 1 inch = 10 feet. 

Another instance of a banded vein occurs at Mud Lake, Templeton 
Township, Ottawa County, Quebec, where apatite, mica, and pyroxene 
form the contents of the vein. 1 But it is generally in the Ontario dis- 
trict that the banded structure is most often seen. 

In the township of North Burgess, Lanark County, Ontario, are many 
examples of phosphate-bearing veins, some of which can be traced for 
1 B. J Harrington : Geol. Survey Canada, Rept. Progress for 1877-78-79. 

(508) 



TENROSK.] 



APATITES OF CANADA. 



35 



over half a mile, while others are short and amount to little more than 
pockets. In places the ground is literally cut up by a net-work of these 
veins, varying from a few inches to over ten feet wide. Occasionally they 




a A b & a a 

Fig. 17. Northwest side of a pit at North Star mine, Portland East, Ottawa County, Quebec, Canada. 
A, apatite; B, pyroxene; C, feldspar; D, mica. Scale: 1 inch = 10 feet. 

are found widening into bunches almost twenty feet across. The veins 
often show a banded structure and consist of mica and pyroxenite on 
the outside and apatite in the center. The outside bands of the veins 
are in some cases composed of a dark, almost black 5 talcose material. 

A 




Fig. 18. Part of the northeast wall of McLaurin's mine, Templeton, Ottawa County, Quebec, Canada. 
A, apatite; B, pyroxene. Scale: 1 inch = 5 feet. 

In other places the contents of the vein consist of apatite, mica, pyrox- 
enite, and white and flesh or salmon colored calcite, indiscriminately 

(509) 



36 



DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME. 



BULL. 46. 



mixed and associated with small quantities of scapolite, zircon, sphene, 
talc, hornblende, specular iron ore, zeolites, and other minerals. Veins 
also occur which are almost entirely composed of apatite crystals scat- 
tered in a matrix of granular quartzite. 

On the land of the Anglo-Canadian Phosphate Company, at Otty Lake, 
North Burgess, where some of these veins have been opened to a depth of 
seventy to eighty feet, the mode of occurrence of the apatite is well seen. 
The prevailing country rock here is quartzite and garnetiferons gneiss. 
In some cases the line of division between the vein matter and the coun- 
try rock is sharply drawn, while in others they gradually blend. Both 
of these phenomena, as well as the banded and the unbanded structure, 
are often seen in different parts of the same vein. The apatite occurs in 
bunches, sometimes connected by seams of the same mineral. From a 
single one of these bunches over a thousand tons have been taken. 




Fig. 19. Section at McKenzie's opening, looking E!NE., Bowman, Ottawa County, Quebec, Canada. 
A, apatite, with pyroxene crystals; B, pyroxene; C, limestone. Scale: 1 iruen = 50 feet. 

The contents of the phosphate- bearing veins are often very variable 
at different points in the same vein, sometimes consisting mostly of apa- 
tite, scapolite, feldspar, and pyroxene, and. at others being composed of 
crystalline limestone bearing crystals of the above minerals. Such a 
formation is seen on Henry Barr's land, in Eenfrew County. At the 
McKenzie mine, iu Bowman Township, Ottawa County, Quebec, there 
is a vein in a hill of lilac-colored feldspar and pyroxenite. One part of 
the vein is composed of massive apatite, holding crystals of pyroxene 
and scapolite, while another about fifty feet distant assumes a totally 
different character, being composed of a pink, crystalline calcite, bearing 
crystals of apatite. In some places the calcite has been worn away by 
the infiltration of water, and then the structure of the vein can be seen. 
The cavity is lined with crystals of scapolite and pyroxene, which come 
next to the country rock, while the calcite, bearing the crystals of apa- 
tite, comes in the middle (Fig. 19). This formation of drusy cavities in 
limestone leads is very common, especially in the Ontario district. Often 
the calcareous matter has been washed away, and crystals of apatite 
and their fragments are scattered over the bottom of the hollow. The 

(510) 






APATITES OF CANADA. 37 



formation of cavities seems especially apt to take place at the point of 
junction of the limestone and a harder mineral in the vein. Thus in the 
township of Loughboro', Frontenac County, Ontario, was seen the cavity 
represented in Fig. 13, where a mass of limestone in a vein came in con- 
tact with a mass of apatite-bearing pyroxenite. From this opening sev- 
eral hundred pounds of loose apatite crystals were taken. Though it 
will thus be seen that the apatite of Canada often occurs in well dehned 
veins, yet the largest deposits yet discovered occur in irregular masses in 
the pyroxenic and f eld spathic rocks (see Figs. 2, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 
21). They seem to occur at some places in fissures and at others as simple 
segregations. As a general rule it may be said that the vein character 
is best developed in the Ontario district, while the segregation and 
pocket formations are more common in the Quebec district. A very 
characteristic section, showing the occurrence of pockets of apatite is 
given in Fig. 18. It is a figure from the side of McLaurin's mine in 
Templeton, Ottawa County, Quebec. The mineral seems to lie in no 
definite vein, but to have been formed by the segregation of apatite 
from the including rocks. This seems especially probable, as the sur- 
rounding pyroxene often contains 10 to 15 per cent, of apatite and 
seems to increase in richness as the pocket is approached. It is also well 
known that phosphate of lime has, more than any other mineral, the 
property of forming into concretionary and segregated masses. Thus 
Professor Rogers found, in the materials dredged in the Challenger ex- 
pedition, numerous phosphatic concretions scattered over- many parts 
of the sea bottoms. Again, in the phosphorite deposits of southwestern 
France and of Estremadura, in Spain, the concretionary form is one of 
the most common conditions of the phosphate, while in the phosphate 
region of South Carolina the nodular phosphates, especially those from 
Bull Eiver, show sometimes a distinctly concretionary structure. At 
Crown Point, X. Y., phosphate of lime occurs in radiating and botry- 
oidal masses forming the eupyrchroite of Emmons, and even in the 
guano beds of Peru concretionary nodules of phosphate of lime have 
been found. 1 

The pockets and fissures of apatite are of variable size (see Figs. 2, 
14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 21), sometimes being only a fraction of an inch in 
diameter and sometimes consisting of immense bodies of massive or 
crystalline apatite, measuring many feet in thickness. Such pockets 
are to be seen at the Emerald, Battle Lake, Xorth Star, High Eock, 
Union, and other mines on the Da Lievre Eiver. The apatite is, gen- 
erally, not sharply divided from the pyroxenite, but gradually blends 
with it. The pockets show sometimes a banded structure, such as that 
of a cavity lined with pyroxene and the central part occupied by apatite. 
Occasional large bowlders of country rock are found embedded in the 

1 In the introduction to this report yet other instances of concretionary forms are 
noted, as well as the fact that many are prohahly at present forming in the muds he- 
neath certain swamps. — N. S. S. 

(511) 



38 



DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME, 



[BULL. 46. 



apatite (sec Fig. 12). Nearly all these pockets and fissure veins seem to 
take their distinctive characters from the including rocks. Thus where 
the including rock is pyroxenic, feldspathic, and calcareous, the crystals 
associated with the apatite are generally pyroxene, feldspar, and calcite; 
and where the country rock contains large amounts of hornblende, as 
at Bell's mine, Storrington, Fronteuac County, at Barr's mine, and on 
Turner's Island in Clear Lake, in Eenfrew County, Ontario, there are 
always found large quantities of this mineral in the vein matter. The 
few veins, however, in which the lines of separation from the country 
rock are sharply drawn, do not seem to be so dependent on the includ- 
ing rocks for their component minerals. 




Fig. 20. Section in a pit near the Emerald mine, Buckingham, Ottawa County, Quebec, Canada. 
A, apatite: B, schistose pyroxene; C, drift. Scale-. 1 inch — 6 feet. 

The depth to which the apatite extends is probably, for all practical 
purposes, unlimited. Some bunches of the mineral run out, but others 
are found at a greater or less distance below. The deepest openings in 
Canada are the North Star mine, township of Portland, county of Ot- 
tawa, Quebec, and the Battle Lake mine, township of Templeton, of the 
same county. In September, 1886, they had reached the depths, re- 
spectively, of 350 feet and 210 feet. In both shafts large bunches of 
apatite were found, separated by pyroxenic or micaceous rocks contain- 
ing smaller seams and bunches of that mineral. 

The apatite of Canada varies considerably in its physical character. 
Its color is green, red, brown, white, blue, purple, or black. The black 
color is generally caused by the decomposition of the associated iron 
pyrites and is seen in Ottawa and Frontenac Counties. Apatite occurs 
in the crystalline, subcrystalline, massive, or granular form. The gran- 
ular variety, known as u sugar apatite," is of a white or pale-green 
color and looks like coarse sand, more or less coherent. It occurs prin- 
cipally at the Little Rapids mine, township of Portland, and McLaurin's 
mines, township of Templeton, Ottawa County, Quebec, and is one of 
the purest forms of apatite mined. It is uncertain what could have 

(512) 



PENROSE.] 



APATITES OF CANADA. 



39 



P * 



p, 00 

•a 



caused the apatite to assume this granular condition. Some shipments 
from Ottawa County have analyzed 88 per cent, of tribasic phosphate 
of lime. The apatite varies very much in its ability to withstand weath. 
ering. When it is free from 
pyrites it endures it very 
well and is almost as resist- 
ant to corrosion as quartz; 
but when pyrite is present 
it quickly crumbles away. 
In some places where py- 
rites of iron and copper are 
found the apatite is brown 
and rusty for a depth of 
several feet. 

Below is given a list of 
some of the more important 
minerals of the Canada ap- 
atite districts. The crys- 
tals often occur of immense 
size and in a state of great 
perfection. The zircons, 
sphenes, scapolites, pyrox- 
enes, apatites, and micas 
are especially fine, and 
probably are found no- 
where else in such quanti- 
ties and in such perfection: 

Apatite. 

Calcite. 

Fluor-spar. 

Pyroxene. 

Hornblende. 

Phlogopite. 

Garnet. 

Epidote. 

ldocrase. 

Tourmaline. 

Titanite. 

Zircon. 

Orthoclase. 

Quartz. 

The apatite, after being 
blasted out, is put through 
the process of " cobbing," 
which consists in breaking it with a hammer from the adhering impur- 
ities. 

(513) 



Opal. 


5 © 


Chalcedony. 


a B 


Albite. 


g-fi 


•Scapolite. 


o 5 


Wilson ite. 


II g 

to -° 


Talc (steatite). 


£p 


Chlorite. 


a> s 


Prehnite. 




Chabasite. 


t> 


Galena. 




Sphalerite. 


•5 


Molybdenite. 


G> 


Graphite. 






40 DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME. [bull. 46. 

The highest grade which is shipped rarely averages over 85 per cent, 
tribasic phosphate of lime, and none of the mines ship much phosphate 
which does not average at least 70 per cent. Eighty per cent, apatite 
is considered first quality and sells for 11 to 12 pence a unit. 1 The prin- 
cipal market for the Canada apatite is Europe. Great Britain and 
Germany consume over three-fourths of the total product, which, in 
1885, amounted to 23,908 tons. The market is unlimited and the oat- 
put is yearly increasing, so that phosphate mining bids fair, in a few 
years, to be one of the most important industries of Canada. The an- 
nexed tables will show the output of the mines in past years, as well as 
the present markets. 

According to the Canadian Mining Eeview, January, 1886, the prod- 
uct for the past five years has been : 

Tons. 

1881 15,601 

1882 17,181 

1883 ,: 17,840 

1884 22,143 

1885 23,908 

Total for five years 96. 673 

Shipments to different ports (same authority) : 

Tons, 1884. Tons, 1885. 

Liverpool 8,557 9,563 

London. _ _ 4,389 7,683 

Hamburg 2,970 3,524 

Bristol 1,824 2,056 

Glasgow 3,083 482 

Barrow 350 

Penarth Eoads -.1 100 100 

Cardiff 65 

Sharpness 45 

Hull - 40 

Dublin 210 

Sunderland 60 

Bristol Channel 50 

United States - 200 

Consumed in Canada 700 



Total - - 22,143 23,908 

From Ontario district, 1885 _ 1,500 

From Quebec district, 1885 ' J 22, 408 

The origin or chemical history of these Laurentian phosphates has 
been a matter of considerable dispute. Dr. T. S. Hunt says that 
phosphates, like silica and iron oxide, were doubtless constituents of 
the primitive earth^s crust, and that the production of apatite crystals 
in granite veins or in crystalline schists is a process as independent 

1 The expression 11 to 12 pence a unit is the commercial method of signifying the 
value of the apatite. It means 11 to 12 pence for each per cent. Thus 80 per cent, 
phosphate at 11 to 12 pence per unit would be worth $17.60 to $19.20 per ton 

(514) 



Penrose.] APATITES OF CANADA. 41 

of life as the formation of crystals of quartz or of hematite. 1 Prof 

J. W. Dawson,- on the other hand, thinks the Canada apatites are of 
animal origin, and bases his belief on the presence of eozoon and of 
graphite in the associated beds and of the fluoride of lime in the apa- 
tite, lie Biys: "The probability of the animal origin of the Lauren- 
tian apatite is, perhaps, further strengthened by the prevalence of ani- 
mals with phosphatic crusts and skeletons in the primordial age, giving 
a presumption that, in the still earlier Laurentian, a similar preference 
for phosphatic matter may have existed, and, perhaps, may have ex- 
tended to still lower forms of life, just as, in more modern times, the 
appropriation of phosphate of lime by the higher animals, for their 
bones, seems to have been accompanied by a diminution of its use in 
animals of lower grade." 3 Messrs. Brogger and Eeusch, 4 in their de- 
scription of the Norwegian apatites, think that they are of purely erup- 
tive origin. 

1 Chem. and Geol. Essays, 1875, p. 311. * 
-Quart. Jour. Gcol. Soc. London, vol. 32, 1876, p. 290. 

3 The reader should note the fact that since the admirable researches of Mobius it 
is doubtful whether eozoon be of organic origin. — N. S. S. 
4 Zeitschr. Deutseh. geol. Gesell., Berlin, vol. 27, 1875. 

(515) 



42 



DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME. 



[BULL. 46. 



Tabic giving analyses of apatites of Canada by Christian Hoffman, Geological Survey of 

Canada. 1877-78. 

[I is from Storrington, province of Ontario ; II is from Buckingham, province of Quebec ; III is 
from North Burgess, province of Ontario ; IV is from Portland, province of Quebec; V is fromLough- 
boro', province of Ontario : YI is from Portland, province of Quebec ; VII is from Buckingham, prov- 
ince of Quebec ; VIII is from Tompleton, province of Quebec. ] 





I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


V. 


VI. 


VII. 


VIII. 


Phosphoric acid (1) . 
Fluorine (2) 


40. 373 
3.311 
0.438 
0.026 

47. 828 


41. 080 
3.474 
0.260 
0.370 

49. 161 


39. 046 
3.791 
0.476 
0.096 

46. 327 


41. 139 
3.863 
0.229 
0. 223 

49. 335 


40. 868 
3.731 
0.428 
0.105 

48. 475 


40. 518 
3.377 
0.086 
0.855 

49. 041 


34. 032 
2.855 
0.101 
2.848 

44.198 
3.507 
3.062 
0.422 
1.979 

Not det. 
5.370 
0.120 

? 

2.050 


40. 812 
3.554 
0.040 
0.518 

49. 102 

3.763 
0.620 
0.565 

0.125 

? 
0.630 


Chlorine (3) 


Carbonic acid (4) ... 


Sulphur (5) 




3.732 
0.151 
0.609 


3.803 
0.158 
0. 705 


4. 258 
0.548 
1.190 


4.195 
0.180 
0.566 


4.168 
0.158 
0.835 


3.603 
0.205 
0.267 






Nickel, cobalt, and 
















Sesquioxide of iron . 


0.151 

<i 

3.890 


0.125 

? 
0.370 


1.290 

1 
3. 490 


0.094 

? 
0.060 


0.905 

? 
1.150 


0.083 

1 
1.630 


Insoluble residue. . . 
Total 

(1) Equal to tribasic 
phosphate of lime. 

(2) Equal to fluoride 
of calcium 

(3) Equal to chlo- 
ride of calcium 

(4) Equal to carbon- 
ate of lime 

(5) Equal to pyrrho- 


100. 509 


99. 506 


100. 512 


99. 884 


100. 823 


99. 665 


100. 544 


99. 729 


88. 138 
6.796 
0.685 
0.059 


89. 682 
7.131 
0.406 
0.840 


85. 241 

7.781 
0.744 
0.218 


89. 810 
7.929 

0.358 
0.507 


89. 219 
7.658 
0.669 
0.239 


88. 455 
6.932 
0.134 
1.943 


74. 295 
5.860 
0.158 
6.473 

8.877 


89. 098 
7.295 
0.062 
1.177 

















Analysis of apatite of Canada, by Dr. C. U. Shepard, jr. 



IX. 



Phosphoric acid 39.80 

(Equal to bone phosphate, 86.88.) 
Sand 5.91 



APATITES OF NORWAY. 

Under the heading of apatites com e the phosphate deposits of Nor- 
way. They are found on the southern coast, and extend from Lange. 
s und Fjord to Arendal. They are also found scatteringly in Kongs- 
berg, in the parish of Snarum. Most of them are fluor-apatites, though 
they all contain some chlorine, and the apatite from Snarum contains 
2.71 per cent, of this element. 1 The apatite occurs in both the crystal- 
line and the massive form, and varies from white and yellow to green 

1 A dark-blue or grsenish-blue variety of crystalline apatite is found at Arendal, 
and is known as inoropite. 

(516) 



Penrose.] APATITES OF NORWAY. 4P> 

or red. Some of il is the richest phosphate at present mined, aver- 
aging at times over 90 per cent, of phosphate of lime. 1 (See analyses, 
p. 45). 

The mineral occurs in veins in the country gneisses, granites, quartz- 
ites, and schists, and also in a rock called by Brogger and Reuseh spotted 
gabbro (gefleckter Gabbro), which is composed of brown hornblende and 
white or gray labradorite. It is generally supposed to be of eruptive 
origin. From its description it is very similar to the rock, including 
the apatite, at Bell's mine, Storrington, Ontario, described above, which 
is composed of green hornblendes and white feldspar, and occurs as 
an apparently eruptive mass in the country gneiss. The apatite seems 
to occur indifferently in this hornblende rock and in the other country 
rocks, though, wTierever it has been discovered in the latter, the spot- 
ted gabbro is generally found in the neighborhood. The apatite is asso- 
ciated most commonly with micas, enstatite, hornblende, pyroxene, 
albite, tourmaline, copper and iron pyrites, and other minerals, includ- 
ing many other species of rarer occurrence which are hereafter enume- 
rated. As in the Canadian deposits, the contents of the veins are 
variable, being in some places composed almost entirely of either mica 
or enstatite, or both, and in others consisting of apatite with only a 
few micaceous and pyroxenic impurities. The veins are markedly dif- 
ferent from the Canada veins in the fact that they contain only very 
little carbonate of lime. The large calcareous veins containing apatite^ 
which are so common in the Canadian apatite districts, are never found 
in the apatite districts of Norway. The apatite veins in Norway are 
often very numerous and run in all directions, forming a perfect net- 
work all through the rock. Thus at Oedegarden there is an area of 
58 square rods which is cut up by innumerable veins of all sizes. The 
principal one of these has been worked to a considerable extent j it dips 
at 45°, has a thickness of one foot to four feet, and a length of about 
five hundred yards. Dr. C. U. Shepard, jr., who visited it in 1874, 
says: "It was found in the face of a low, rocky ledge, occurring in 
mica and a clay slate." 2 The veins often show a banded structure, hav- 
ing the mica and hornblende on the outside and the apatite in the cen- 
ter, though in other places they also show, as is generally the case in 
Canada, a confused mass of crystallized minerals. At Eegardsheien 
there are five parallel veins, one of them one and a half feet thick 
and one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet long; four dip at 30°, 
while the fifth is almost vertical (Brogger and Keusch). At Kra- 
geroe there is a large vein seven feet wide. It occurs in granitoid and 
schist rocks, though from the summit of the hill, from which it crops 
out, there protrudes the eruptive gabbro. The vein matter is com- 

1 Some of the phosphate deposits of Norway, especially at Krageroe, partake very 
much of the nature of phosphorites, hut they are all classed together here, as hoth 
varieties are so intimately associated that they cannot he conveniently separated. 

2 Dr. C. U. Shepard, jr.", MS. 

(517) 



44 



DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME. 



Tbull. 46. 



posed largely of hornblende and apatite in varying proportions^ with 
crystals of rutile occasionally scattered through the mass. The horn- 
bleucle often contains cavities lined with crystals of the same substance, 
and of quartz, apatite, and other minerals. At Nestesvag the apatite 
vein occurs in quartzite. The minerals found in the Norway apatite 
are r 1 



Quartz. 

Apatite. 

Calcite. 

Talc. 

Orthoclase. 

Albite. 

Oligoclase (and albite). 

Esruarkite (anorthite ?). 

Scapolite (and paleo-aibite). 

Tourmaline. 

Hornblende. 

Pyroxene. 



Enstatite. 

Phlogopite and green magnesian mica. 

Chlorite. 

Aspasiolite. 

Titanite. 

Hematite. 

Rutile. 

Menaccanite. 

Magnetite. 

Copper pyrite. 

Magnetic pyrite. 

Iron pyrite. 



The apatite of Norway was mined as early as 1854. The first depos- 
its worked were those of Krageroe, from which, between the years 1854 
and 1858, 13,000 tona were taken and sold for $110,000. The Oede- 
garden deposits were discovered in 1874 by Axel Esmark, a Norwegiau 
mineralogist. They have since been worked on a small scale. The 
difficulty of mining Norwegian apatite has been so great, however, that 
the yearly output has never exceeded a few thousand tons, and the 
mineral at present has been almost driven out of the market by the 
Canada, Curacoa. and other high-grade phosphates. 

As regards the origin of the Norwegian apatites, Brogger and Reusch 
think they are of eruptive origin. The banded structure of the veins 
they ascribe to the way the minerals solidified from a state of fusion. 
The country rocks are almost absolutely destitute of phosphoric acid in 
any form, and, consequently, they infer that the vein matter is in no 
way dependent on the surrounding rocks. Another argument which 
they bring up in support of the eruptive theory is that veins are often 
seen to be fine-grained on the outside and coarse and crystalline in 
the center. 

Table giving analyses of apatite of Norway, by Dehern. 





Yellowish ; B 
brown. 


Black. 


General 
sample. 


Poor 
quality. 




34.82 33.25 

76.01 72.58 

7.07 j 7.81 


26.25 
57.30 
21.01 


34.88 
76.14 
4.95 


17.56 
38.33 
35.89 


Equivalent to bone phosphate. . 
Sand 









Zeitschr. Deutsch. geol. Gesell. ? vol. 27, 1875, pp. 672, 673. 

(518) 



Penrose.] APATITES OF SPAIN. 45 

Table giving analyses of high-grade Norwegian apatite, by Dr. C. U. Shepard, jr. 



Phosphoric acid 

Equivalent to bone phosphate 
Insoluble Bilioeous matter 



38.79 

83.68 

8.13 



II. 



37. 88 
82. 21 

7.39 



Analysis of apatite from Arcndal, Xorway, by O. Bose. 

Phosphoric acid (I) 42.229 

Fluorine (2) 3.415 

Chlorine (:?) 0-512 

Lime 49.960 

Calcium 3.884 



100. 000 

(1) Equal to tribasic phosphate of lime 92.189 

(2) Equal to fluoride of calcium 7.010 

(3) Equal to chloride of calcium 0. 801 

APATITES OF SPAIN. 

The only other apatite deposits which have yet become of commer- 
cial importance are in Spain. At Malpartida de Caeeres are the mines 
of Sen or Grappin. The mineral occurs in granite, and about six thousand 
tons annually have been shipped in good years. Considerable deposits 
of apatite are found at Zarza la Mayor, and at Ceclavin, in the district 
of Alcantara, near the Portuguese frontier, and about twenty miles 
from the Tag us. Crystalline apatite is also found in the volcanic rocks 
at Jumilla, in the province of Murcia, which averages 86 per cent, phos- 
phate of lime. 1 It is also found in the provinces of Alemtejo and Za- 
inora. 2 The Jumilla apatite is often of the yellowish-green variety, 
known as asparagus stone or Spargelstein. 

The Spanish apatite deposits are limited in quantity, compared with 
the phosphorite deposits of that country, and they have never produced 
more than a very few thousand tons annually. At present, on account 
of the disturbe d political condition of the country, no apatite is ex- 
ported. 

A description of the other Spanish deposits is given under the subject 
of phosphorites. 

Analyses of Spanish apatite. 

[I. Apatite from Zarza la Mayor, by Dr. C. TJ. Shepard, jr., MSS.J 

Tribasic phosphate of iime 79. 16 

Sand 7.09 

1 O. Ramon T. Mufios de Luna: Estudios quimicos sobre economia agricola en ge- 
neral, y particularmente sobre la importaucia de loa abonos fosfatados. Madrid, 1S68. 
2 Naranjo y Garza et Lino Penuelas : Bull. Soc. geologique France, 1860^ p. 157. 

(519) 



46 DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME. [bum. 46. 

[II. Apatite from Murcia, by G-. Eose.] 

Phosphoric acid (1) 42.172 

Fluorine (2) 3.434 

Chlorine (3) , 0.566 

Lime 49.894 

Calcium 3.934 

100. 000 

(1) Equal to tribasic phosphate of lime 92.066 

(2) Equal to fluoride of calcium.. 7. 049 

(3) Equal to chloride of calcium 0. 885 

PHOSPHORITES. 

" The name phosphorite was used by Kirwan for all apatite, but in 
his mind it especially included the fibrous, concretionary, and partly 
scaly mineral from Estremadura, Spain, and elsewhere." 1 In this 
latter sense it is used here, but it will also include certain vitreous and 
earthy forms which are often so intimately associated with the above- 
mentioned varieties and which often run into them by such gradations 
that they are best described together. 

The phosphatic deposits of Nassau, in Germany ; those of the south- 
west of France, commercially known as " Bordeaux phosphates,' 7 and 
those of Estremadura and Caceres, in Spain, come under this head. 

PHOSPHORITES OF NASSAU. 

The phosphorite deposits of Nassau were discovered in 1864 by Herr 
Victor Meyer, of Limburg, though as early as 1850 Dr. Sandberger had 
discovered apatite in the manganese mines of Kleinfeld. 

The principal phosphorite deposits occupy an irregular area, bounded 
on the northeast by the town of Weilburg, on the northwest by the 
Wester wald, on the east by the Taunus Mountains, and on the south 
by the town of Dietz. The general appearance of the country is that 
of a broad plain, intersected by the Lahn and its tributaries. The 
phosphorite is found in cavities in a hard, massive, dolomitic limestone 
of the Devonian age. The following section, 2 in an ascending order, 
will show the geologic relations of the deposits : 

(1) Porphyry, dark to light gray and green, containing cavities of calcareous 
matter. 

(2) Slaty and shaly beds, much contorted. 

(3) Dark-red sandstone, containing beds of hematite. 

(4) Dolomitic limestone, white, blue, or pink in color, resting unconformably on 
the underlying bed. 

(5) Phosphorite deposits. 

(6) Brown clay, supposed to be Tertiary. 

The phosphorite is sometimes found on the surface and sometimes 
under as much as two hundred feet of clay. The hollows contain- 
ing the phosphorite are generally much worn and have all their edges 
rounded off, as if they had been exposed to the action of water for a 
long time before the phosphorite was deposited in them (Figs. 22, 23). 

1 J. D. Dana: A System of Mineralogy, 1873, p. 531. 
3 D. C. Pavies: Geol. Mag., vol. 5, London, 1868, p. 262. 
(520) 



1'ENKOSJS.J 



PHOSPHORITES OF NASSAU. 



47 



The phospkatic deposits vary from six inches to six feet in thick- 
ness and seem to attain their greatest continuity in a belt running in a 
northeast and southwest direction, thinning out gradually at both ex- 
tremities. They seem to occur only with the limestone, and are no 
longer found when that rock disappears. This would seem to indicate 
that they depend on the limestone for their origin. 




Fig. 22. Section at Cuhach, Nassau, Prussia. After D. C. Davies : Geological Magazine, London, 1868. 
A, clay; B, phosphate of lime; C, manganese ; D, dolomite 

The phosphorite is found in a great variety of forms. It is generally 
massive, fibrous, earthy, porous, jasper-like, kidney-shaped, stalactitic, 
or nodular. Occasionally there are found in it minute crystals of 
apatite (Davies). Sometimes, also, it occurs as an incrustation, and it 
is then known as stafifelite, from its abundance near the town of Staffel. 




Fig. 23. Section at Staffel, Nassau, Prussia. After D. C. Davies : Geological Magazine, London, 1868. 
A, dolomite; B, clay; C, phosphate of lime. 

This mineral is, generally, white, yellow, green, or brown in color, and 
occasionally translucent. The other varieties are of almost all colors, 
white, yellow, red, gray, blue, green, biown, or black. Occasionally a 
brecciated variety is found, but the larger part of the deposit is of the 
massive kind. 1 The hardness varies from 1 to 5. With the phosphor- 
ite occasionally occur deposits of crystalline hematite and manganese 
ore. These minerals are most common on the outside edges of the 
phosphate-bearing area, but are also found with it in the same deposit. 
The amount of phosphate of lime in the phosphorite is very variable, 
averaging from 60 to 92 per cent, (see analyses). It is generally richest 
when associated with the least hematite and manganese and, when free 
from the former mineral, it makes an excellent superphosphate. Among 
the other minerals associated with this deposit are wavellite, calcite, 
quartz, wollastonite, jasper, and chalcedony. 

i Dr. C. U. Skepard, jr., MS. 
(521) 



48 



DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME. 



[BULL. 46. 



There are no signs of organic remains in the Nassau phosphorites, 
but they are generally believed to be of animal origiu. Dr. Mohr 
thinks they were formed by the concentration of the phosphate of lime 
from the underlying limestones. At present not much phosphorite is ex- 
ported on account of the difficulty of freeing it from the associated iron 
and the expense of mining it. Several years ago, however, large quanti- 
ties were sent to England, and in 1867 the total output of all the mines 
amounted to 30,000 tons, which sold, according to its quality, for $5 to 
$8 per ton. It is still used in considerable quantities along the Rhine. 

Table of analyses of Nassau phosphorites. 





Presenilis 
and Foster. 


Fresenius. 


Wicke. 


Pure staf- 
felite. 


General 
sample. 


General 
sample. 




45.79 
0.16 
6.42 
1.08 
0.58 
0.42 

34.48 
1.51 
4.83 
3.45 
2.45 


47.31 
0.12 
3.77 
1.67 
0.66 
0.52 

33.84 
2.75 
5.04 
2.11 
2,74 


42.31 
0.23 
8.22 
2.23 
1.26 
0.09 

30.63 
2.78 
6.61 
3.74 
3.00 
1.07 








Potash 






















101. 17 
1.45 


100. 53 
0.84 


102. 17 
1.57 




99.72 


99.69 


100. 60 



PHOSPHORITES OF SOUTHWESTERN FRANCE. 

The phosphorites of the southwest of France are in the departments 
of Lot, Tarn-et-Garonne, and Aveyron. The region is limited by the 
valleys of the rivers Lere, Oelle, and Aveyron, and the phosphorite is 
found in largest quantities near Oaylus and at St. Antonin, Limogne, 
Cajarc, Figeac, Villeneuve, Bozouls, and other places on the southwest- 
ern side of the central plateau. The material occurs in fissures and 
cavities in the surfaces of hard, compact, gray limestone plateaus which 
belong to the Oxfordo-Coralline group of the Jurassic formation. The 
deposits are of two kinds. 1 The first occurs in irregular cavities, never 
over a few yards long, and partaking more or less of the character of 
pockets ; the second, in the form of elongated leads, with sides which 
are nearly vertical and which run in a generally parallel direction, 
widening and narrowing at intervals. They are generally shallow and 
1 Mr. Daubree : Comptes rendus Acad, sci., Paris, vol- 73, 1871. 

(522) 



pknkose.1 PHOSPHORITES OF SOUTHWESTERN FRANCE. 49 

thin out very rapidly at a short distance from the surface. They often, 
however, continue for some distance longitudinally. Thus, at Pendare", 
the surface of the phosphate lead is three to ten yards wide and has 
been followed in a straight line for 100 yards. Any sudden turn or curve 
in the fissure is, according to Mr. Rey-Lescure, 1 almost sure to make the 
lead thin and poor. The richest leads are those which run in a straight 
line and have walls which are smooth and tend toward a vertical po- 
sition. According to Mr. Daubree, 2 the fissures seem to follow certain 
definite directions. Thus, at Pendare* and Mas-Merlin, they run EKE. 
and WS W, At the same time there is another series of leads running at 
right angles to these. The phosphatic material of the leads running in 
different directions is of very different character, as will be hereafter 
shown. 

The phosphorite occurs in a great number of forms. Sometimes it 
has a rounded, concentric, and radiated structure ; at others it occurs 
in nodular and mammillated masses. Often it is found in agate-like 
zones, forming twenty to thirty layers in a thickness of a centimeter. 
Sometimes it occurs as geodes, 3 and at other times it is found in fibrous 
masses, very much resembling aragonite. The phosphorite varies very 
much in hardness, compactness, and general appearance. The purest 
form is as hard as apatite, has a resinous or subvitreous luster and 
a yellowish- brown color. Sometimes the color is of a light blue, pos- 
sibly due to the presence of phosphate of iron. The impure varie- 
ties are white, yellow, or red, and are often soft and earthy. The 
phosphorite which occurs in the form of nodules is often hollow in 
the interior, containing loose stones in the cavities (Daubree). The 
whole mass is mixed with siliceous pebbles, clay (more or less ferrugi- 
nous), loose blocks of calcareous rock, and pisolites of iron, all solidified 
into a mass varying very much in compactness and generally contain- 
ing numerous cracks and cavities. Often pyrolusite is associated with 
the phosphorite, occurring in thin layers or in the form of dendrites. 
The presence of iodides has been detected, in which respect it resembles 
the phosphorite of Amberg in Bavaria. Minute quantities of bromides 
are also found. The presence of pisolites of iron is most frequent near 
beds of iron ore ; and the iron, according to Rey-Lescure, 4 probably has 
been derived from such beds. 

Mr. Trutat has found that in the leads which run EKE. and WSW. 
the phosphorite is compact, vitreous, agate-like, and, rarely, geodic. 
In the leads at right angles to these the mass of phosphatic material 
consists apparently of geodes filled with carbonate of lime or ferrugi- 
nous clay. The geodes are, however, generally broken and in fragments, 
so that their contents cannot be observed. The leads of the first variety 

1 Bull. Soc. geologique France, 3d series, vol. 3, 1875, p. 398. 
2 Comptes rendus Acad, sci., Paris, vol. 73, 1871. 

:j Mr. Leymerie: Note sur les phosphorites du Quercy, Toulouse, 1872. 
4 Bull. Soc. geologique France, 3d series, vol. 3, 1875. 

Bull. 46 4 (523) 



50 DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME. [bull. 46. 

generally consist of long fissures with parallel walls, while those of the 
second variety represent the irregular pockets described by Daubree. 
Trutat thinks that the ENE. and WSW. leads were formed first, and 
that those at right angles to them were formed later, by the action of car- 
bonic acid, which dissolved part of the original leads and redeposited 
it in new hollows and crevices. 

The phosphorite deposits are usually capped by a deposit of ferrugi- 
nous clay, containing pisolites of iron, bones of land animals, and nu- 
merous land and fresh-water shells. Among the bones are the remains 
of many carnivorous, herbivorous, and omnivorous animals, all mixed 
together. The bones are well preserved and not affected by chemical 
action. The deposits of Cregols and Beduer have afforded immense 
quantities of bones of carnivorous animals, and in the deposits of Ray- 
nal, Servanac, and Mouillac are found the remains of many skeletons 
of anthracotherium, palseotherium, and rhinoceros of several varieties. 
The bones are also occasionally found embedded in the phosphatic mat- 
ter itself. 1 Thus, near La Mandine there are so many remains of palse- 
otherium (P. medium) that from one cubic decimeter of phosphatized 
marl four or five fragments of different jawbones and many other 
bones were obtained. Eemains of hysenodon and many land and fresh 
water mollusks, among them Planorbis and Limnwa, as well as tur- 
tle remains, are found in many deposits. Bones of cainotherium and 
anoplotherium are of frequent occurrence. Though the rock which 
contains the phosphorite deposits is of Jurassic age, the phosphate 
itself is generally believed to be of early Tertiary (Eocene) age. The 
way in which the phosphorite came to occupy its present position, how- 
ever, has been a much more disputed point than the time in which the 
deposit was formed. Daubree, 2 Rey-Lescure, 3 Leymerie, 4 and others 
are of the opinion that the phosphate came from mineral springs, 
rising from the bottom of the fissures. The phosphate was dissolved 
by the action of hot water containing carbonic acid, and, when it came 
into the fissures, the carbonic acid was lost and the phosphate was de- 
posited. They think the bones are too few to have anything to do 
with the origin of the phosphate. 

Filhol 5 urges against this theory that in all the deposits which have 
been worked out, and thus afforded a chance of examining the sides of 
the crevasse, he has found that the phosphate does not run into other 
leads by narrow necks and veins, as Rey-Lescure asserts, but that the 
leads are in no way connected with each other and that the crevices 
show no openings through the limestone which could have served as 
an exit for the phosphatic solution. Consequently he concludes that 

1 Mr. Daubree: Comptes rendus Acad, sci., Paris, vol. 73, 1871. 

2 Alph. Peron : Bull. Soc. ge"ologique France, 3d series, vol. 2, 1874. 

3 Bull. Soc. g6ologique France, 3d series, vol. 3, 1875. 

4 Note sur les phosphorites du Quercy, Toulouse, 1872. 

5 Annalessci. g&>l., vol, 7, 1876; Eecherches sur les phosphorites du Quercy, pp. 1-220. 

(524) 



PENROSE.] PHOSPHORITES OF SOUTHWESTERN FRANCE, 51 

the deposits were formed by a solution of phosphate of lime in carbonic 
acid, running from the surface downward into the fissure. When all 
the fissures were filled the solution often spent its strength in phos- 
phatizing the marl of the neighborhood. Thus at La Mandine Basse 
they find a calcareous marl containing 25 to 30 per cent, phosphate of 
lime. 

Mr. Combes 1 thinks the phosphate bed was formed by phosphatio 
vapors rising up through the Jurassic limestone and phosphatizing it. 
He thinks a similar action is going on at the present time. Mr. Malin- 
owski 2 thinks that the beds are of purely animal origin and that vol- 
canic eruptions of Auvergne killed all the animals of the period and thus 
furnished the phosphate to fill up the fissures. Mr. Delfortrie 3 thinks 
the deposit is of Quaternary age and derived from altered guano. 

Mr. Peron 4 has shown that the phosphate deposits only occur where 
the Tertiary deposit now exists or where it has existed in time past. 
Thus on the Jurassic plateau at Bach, Mouillac, and Malperie, the Ter- 
tiary formation which covers it at Lavaurette, Monpalach, and Lasalle, 
in Tarn et Garonne, has been eroded. Yet both districts are rich in 
phosphate. On the other hand, at Laussiers and Anglars, where he 
supposes the Tertiary has never existed, there is no phosphate. He 
thinks the phosphate deposits are synchronous with the Lower Ter- 
tiary of Aude and Tarn. The waters of the Eocene, he supposes, came 
suddenly over the Jurassic plateau, overwhelming the numerous land 
animals of the region and sweeping the remains of these and masses of 
guano into crevices and cavities, together with quartz pebbles, land and 
fresh-water shells, and other debris. Then the action of time and car- 
bonated waters partially metamorphosed the phosphate and converted 
it into concretions and other forms of phosphorite in the midst of the 
clay and bones. At a later time the superficial deposits of bones were 
laid down. 

The strongest arguments of the advocates of the hydrothermic theory 
are the presence in the phosphorite deposits of iodine and manganese, 
and of pisolites of iron, which are generally of hot spring origin. 

Peron thinks these latter were formed during the deposition of the 
Lower Tertiary formation. He also calls attention to the fact that phos- 
phorite has nowhere been found in the southwest of France at a greater 
height above the sea than 320 meters. This he explains by supposing 
that the waters of the early Tertiary did not extend above this height. 

The phosphorites of the southwest of France were discovered in 1865, 
on the plateau of Quercy, in the department of Lot, by Mr. Andre Pou- 
marede. Five years later the deposits of Lot-et-Garonne, Tarn-et-Ga- 
ronne, and Aveyron were discovered and worked until the last few years, 

Phosphorites du Quercy, Revue scientifique, 1872, No. 12. 

2 Trait6 special des phosphates de chaux natifs, Cahors, 1873. 

3 Les gibes de chaux phosohat6e dans le d6parfc. du Lot, Bordeaux, 1873. 

4 Bull. Soc. geologiqne France, 2d series, vol. 2, 1874. 

(525) 



52 



DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME. 



when the exports ceased. The best deposits had given out and the oth- 
ers contained so much iron and alumina that the material was very unde- 
sirable as a source of superphosphate. .For several years, from 1870 to 
1875, an average of 20,000 tons per annum was exported. 1 Some of the 
mines are still worked, but the phosphate is used only in a raw state 
and for local purposes. 

Soon after mining had begun in this region, Guiltier estimated that 
the total contents of all the mines would not exceed 100,000 tons. This 
estimate was much too small, but it serves to show that the deposit is 
a very limited one. The phosphate was formerly collected in loose 
bowlders from the fields for the purpose of building walls. At the 
Pearl mine, near Cajarc, the phosphorite crops out at the surface. 1 At 
the depth of 75 feet the lead becomes very thin and uncertain. The 
mass of the phosphorite is, in some places, 10 feet thick, but ordinarily 
it consists of several more or less parallel bands, which end abruptly. 

One of the largest mines is at Larnagol, in the department of Lot. 
It is situated on the summit of an Oxfordian plateau over a thousand 
feet high. The first quality rock is cleaned by hammer and hand, and 
the second quality in a simple horizontal washer, driven by steam. The 
phosphorite contains both chlorine and fluorine, but in much smaller 
quantities than exist in apatite. As has been said before, it also contains 
iodine, and in some specimens traces ot bromine have been detected. 

Table of analyses of phosphorites from southwestern France. 
[I. Analyses by Bobieire.] 





I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


V. 


VI. 


VII. 


VIII. 




1.00 


4.70 


12.70 
36.48 


12.06 
35.84 


3.00 
36.80 


1.00 
37.10 


1.40 
37.00 
51.50 

10.10 


0.93 
38.32 
48.92 

11.83 


Phosphoric acid 

Total lime 


38.00 
51.47 


32.94 


Water volatilized at red 
heat, fluorine, chlo- 
rine, carbonic acid, and 
oxides of iron and 


9.o3 












Lime in excess of phos- 
phoric acid, and com- 
bined with carbonic 
acid, fluorine, and 












100. 00 
6.87 












100. 00 
8.10 


100. 00 
3.94 

























Dr. C. U. Shepard,jr., MS. 
(526) 



PENROSE, j 



PHOSPHORITES OF SPAIN. 



53 



Table of analyses of phosphorites from southwestern France— Con tinned. 
[II. Analyses by C. I'. Shepard, jr.] 



Phosphoric acid 

Equal bone phosphate 
Sand 



Hiph-crado 
phosphorite, 
from Bias- 
Merlin. 



38.64 

84. 35 

1.00 



Low-grade 
phosphorite, 

from 

LarnagoL 



21.46 
46. 85 
14.58 



Superphosphates made from 12 parts (by weight) of rock and 9 parts 
of sulphuric acid (1.50 specific gravity) gave: 

High grade 14. 93 per cent, soluble phosphoric acid. 

Lovr grade 5. 04 per cent, soluble phosphoric acid. 

[III. Analyses of commercial Bordeaux phosphate by C. U. Shepard, jr.] 



Phosphoric acid 

Equal bone phosphate 
Sand 



L 


II. 


35.46 


34.45 


77.41 


75.20 


4.35 


8.55 



Superphosphates made in the same way as the last case gave : 





I. 






15^00 


12.48 





PHOSPHORITES OF SPAIN. 

The phosphorite deposits of Spain are situated near the towns of 
Logrosan and Caceres, in Estremadura. The two localities differ some- 
what in the mode of occurrence of the phosphorite as well as in its 
physical properties, and will therefore be treated separately. 

Logrosan deposits. — The country in which these occur is a broad table- 
land composed of a clay slate and studded here and there with conical 
peaks rising abruptly from the level of the plain, and often reaching 
the height of three hundred to six hundred feet above the surrounding 
surface. There also occur numerous long, flat ridges, rising, like the 
peaks, abruptly from the surface of the plateau. The slate is of very 
variable character, being composed sometimes of a dark-blue, fissile 
schist, sometimes of a micaceous or a talcose schist, and at other times 
of alternating beds ot talc and feldspar. 1 No fossils are found in this 
formation, but in a very similar deposit near Almaden, and about 
eighty miles from the town of Logrosan, are found numerous fossils, 
Charles Daubeny and Captain Widdriugton : Jour. Roy. Agric. Soc, 1845. 

(527) 



54 DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME. (iujll.46. 

such as Spirifer attenuatus and trilobites. Consequently the slate 
formation of Logrosan and Caeeres has been referred by some French 
and Spanish geologists to the Silurian formation. Le Play 1 refers 
it to an older formation than the fossiliferous slates of the neighbor- 
hood of Almaden. The conical peaks rising up from this formation 
are granitic intrusions. They are very feldspathic and often much 
weathered. In this latter respect they differ from the long, flat 
ridges spoken of above. These are beds of quartzite inters tratifiecl 
with the country rock, which has a quite regular, almost vertical 
dip. The quartzite is sometimes very compact and homogeneous 
and at others it is granular and often resembles a sandstone. It has 
resisted the erosive action, which has worn down the more easily at- 
tacked parts of the slate formation and now stands out in bold, angular 
ridges. The section (Fig. 24) from Truxillo to Logrosan, a distance of 
seven Spanish leagues, will show the general character of the country* 
Besides the rocks already mentioned, large veins of dark limestone 
are occasionally found cutting through the slate formations. 




Fig. 24. Section from Truxillo to Logrosan, Spain, after Daubeny and Widdriagton. A, granite; 

B, slate ; C, phosphorite. 

The phosphorite occurs in true veins and in pockets. Occasionally 
it occurs as a vein at the line of junction of the granite with the country 
slate. It is of a variable character, occurring sometimes in an amor- 
phous and compact form, at others in a fibrous or concretionary state, 
often inclosing pebbles of white or ferruginous quartz. It varies in 
color from white and yellow to a rich, jasper-like red. It is often cov- 
ered with dendrites of manganese, and occasionally agate-like varieties 
are found in which the phosphate is interstratihed with bands of lilac 
amethyst. The palmated variety is generally the purest and the most 
abundant. It has a hardness of 5.5, and a specific gravity of 3.12. 
When heated in a darkened room it gives off a bright phosphorescent 
light. 2 

At Logrosan there are six principal deposits of phosphorite. They 
are known as Costanaza, Jungal, Castillon, Angustias, Terrenos Co 
lorados, and La Oambre Bojera. The Costanaza vein is by far the 
largest phosphorite vein known in all Spain, and perhaps in the world 
(Shepard). 3 It extends for about two and a half miles from the foot of 
Mt. Boyales, on the north, in a southeasterly direction past Mt. Cristo- 
bal. The vein dips at an angle of 60° to 90° toward the east (Garza and 

1 Aunales des mines, 1836. 

2 Sur ]a phosphorite de Logrosan, Estremadura, Messrs. Naranjo y Garza aud Lino 
Penuelas: Bull. Soc. g6ologique France, 1860, vol. 17, p. 157. 

3 Foreign Phosphates, 1879, p. 25. 

(528) 



vKsnosK.} PHOSPIIORITES OF SPAIN. 55 

IViuielas), and cuts obliquely through the country slate, which has a 
strike of north 15° to 45° east, and a dip of 70° southwest. The vein 
has been worked principally where it crosses hills, and especially near 
the chapel of Nuestra Senora del Consuelo. It varies from ten to 
twenty feet in width and contains streaks of quartz and horses of coun- 
try rock. The walls of the slate show signs of considerable decomposi- 
tion and disintegration. The vein thins out at each end, and also grows 
narrow at a depth; though, as the excavation is only about forty feet 
deep, the bottom has not yet been reached. 1 

The second vein, Jungal, is at the entrance of the town of Logrosan, 
on the road to Truxillo. It has a mean width of 32 inches and a length 
of one thousand to twelve hundred feet. In most respects it resembles 
the Costenaza vein, but is ou a much smaller scale. 

The Castillon vein runs under the town for a considerable distance 
and varies in width from five to six and three-fourths feet. It presents a 
mass of phosphorite of great purity. 

The Angustias lead is on the side of the hill Kuestra Seiioradel Con- 
suelo and runs towards Mt. Boy ales. It is not so valuable as some 
of the other leads, because of being much cut up by quartz veins and 
horses of country rock. 

The Terrenos Colorados vein is 330 feet long and averages six and 
two-thirds feet wide. It is parallel to the Cambre Bojera lead, which is 
about the same size. 

The general direction of all these veins is northwest and southeast, 
with a dip of 60° to 9(P. 

The Logrosan phosphate has a subcrystalline structure; some speci- 
mens are fibrous and radiating and often resemble feathers. It is soft 
and chalky to the touch, easily broken, but difficult to grind into a fine 
powder. An examination under the microscope exhibits conchoidal 
figures interrupted with spherical grains, devoid Of color and opaque 
(Shepard). It is infusible before the blowpipe; but, on being subjected 
to long-continued heat, a luminous disk, perceptible in the dark, makes 
its appearance at the point of contact of the mineral and flame, and a 
green phosphorescence appears when it is heated for a short time. It is 
readily soluble in hydrochloric, nitric, or sulphuric acid. 

The highest-grade material is rosy white or yellowish white in color, 
soft, concentric, often brilliantly radiated, with a mamillary or con. 
choidal surface. Red spots from iron and beautiful dendrites of man- 
ganese are not infrequent. The poorer qualities are milky white, vitre- 
ous, hard, and, though free from limestone, contain considerable silica. 

The shipment of phosphate from Logrosan involves great trouble and 
expense. The mineral is draw T n by ox or mule teams to the nearest rail- 
road, a distance of 30 miles, and is shipped at V illanueva de la Serena. 
This carriage costs about 20 cents per cwt, and the carts make two 

"Dr. C. U. Shepard, jr., MS?" 
(529) 



56 



DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME. 



[BULL. 46. 



trips a week, carrying 40 to 50 ewt. each trip. This, with the expense 
of getting it to Lisbon and thence to England, makes it cost about $15 
a ton to land in London. First-class phosphorite (80 to 85 per cent.) 
sold there, in 1875, for $25 a ton. 

In the Caceres district, which supplies most of the phosphorite 
shipped from Spain, the mode of its occurrence differs from that in the 
Logrosan district. While in the latter it occurs in veins, sometimes 
of considerable length, at Oaceres it occurs in pockets in great veins of 
quartz and dark limestone, which are found cutting through the coun- 
try slate. The principal mines are united in the Fraterjidad Company, 
and are known as the Esmeralda, Estrella, San Eugenio, Abundancia, 
Cacerena, San Salvador, and La Peria. 1 The first four, being the only 
mines of much importance, will alone be described. As will be seen 
from the ground plan (Fig. 25), the limestone and quartz veins, in 
which the phosphate is found, occur in both the granite and the slate 
rocks. 




Fig. 25. Ground plan of the Caceres mines in 1875; after Dr. C. U. Shepard, jr. (MS.). 1, Abundan- 
cia mine; 2, Carcerefia mine; 3, San Eugenio mine; 4, San Salvador mine; 5, Estrella mine; 6, Es- 
meralda mine; 7, La Perla mine. 

The Esmeralda mine is considered the largest and best of the Caceres 
mines. There are two veins penetrating the side of a hill in a north 

1 C. U. Shepard, jr., MS. 
(530) 



rKN'ROSK.] 



PHOSPHORITES OF SPAIN. 



57 



and east direction, respectively, at an angle of about 15°. The vein to 
the north has a thickness of ten to twenty feet, and contains a variable 
quantity of limestone and siliceous rock. The immediately surrounding 
rock is limestone of a hard, brown character, which has been excavated 
for a depth of some one hundred feet (1875). The leads appear to 
narrow as they are followed into the hill. The exterior of the mass of 
phosphate is hard, white, and compact, while toward the center it be- 
comes soft, crumbly, and of a rosy color (Shepard). There is less 
hard, siliceous rock here than in the other mines. 

At the Estrella mine the lead enters the hill in which the Esmeralda 
mine is situated at an angle of 45°. The total thickness of the deposit is 
ten to twenty feet. It is very irregular in shape and grows thinner as it 
enters the hill. It contains less of the rich, pulverulent variety of phos- 
phorite and more of the compact, vitreous variety than the last mine. 
Like the Esmeralda mine, it is in a limestone vein (Fig. 26). 




Fig. 26. The Estrella deposit in Estremadura, Spain; after C U. Shepard, jr. (MS.). A, limestone; 

B, phosphorite. 

The San Eugenio mine is smaller than either the Esmeralda or the Es- 
trella. The lead is almost vertical and the phosphorite in some places 
is of a very high grade, but in others it is very siliceous and impure. 

The Abundancia mine has been abandoned on account of the trouble 
from water. It is simply a round open pit 75 feet deep and 100 feet in 
diameter. It once gave large quantities of excellent phosphorite, but 
what is now left is siliceous and contains only 50 to 65 per cent. phos. 
phate of lime, while the best Spanish phosphate will average 80 to 85 
per cent. (See analyses pp. 58, 59.) The Caceres phosphate is massive 
and amorphous and of two varieties : (1) Somewhat granular, easily 
crumpled, and of a white or rosy color; (2) dense, vitreous, hard, and 
white, with occasional streaks of quartz or limestone. 

Caceres is 43 miles north of Merida, a station on the railroad between 
Madrid and Lisbon, and near the Portuguese frontier. The cost of 
transportation between the two places varies from 12£ to 20 cents per 
cwt. Thence to Lisbon costs $4.55 per ton, making the total cost to 
Lisbon amount to $5 to $8 per ton. The Caceres mines were not opened 

(531) 



58 DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME. [bull. 46. 

until 1800, and from that time until 1875 the mines had exported only 
1 24, 15G tons of phosphorite. 

The Logrosan deposits were the first phosphorites found in Spain. 
The earliest mention of. them is by William Bowles in 1782. 1 He says 
that at the base of the Guadalupe Mountains, and near the town called 
Logrosan, the royal road is traversed by a vein of phosphoric stone, 
running in a north and south direction. It was also mentioned by La 
Play, Proust, and others in the early part of this century. But the 
deposit did not attract much attention until Professor Daubeny, of Ox- 
ford, and Captain Widdrington 2 visited the Logrosan country in 1844 
and made a thorough study of the one vein then known. Later, in 
1849, Mr. Naranjo y Garza, by order of the Spanish government, made 
a survey of the basin of the Guadiana and gave a description of the 
Logrosan phosphate deposits. 3 

The Gaceres deposits were discovered in 1860 by Mr. E. De Luna. 

Ever since about 1855 the Spanish phosphorites have been worked 
at intervals. The phosphorite is of excellent quality, commands a 
high price, and makes as good a superphosphate as any phosphate 
known. But the expenses of transportation and the occasionally un- 
settled political condition of the country have been great detriments to 
the development of the mines. 

Analyses of phosphorites of Spain. 

[I. Logrosan phosphate, by De Luna.] 

Water 0.40 

Boue phosphate of lime .' 82. 10 

Phosphate of iron 5.20 

Phosphate of magnesia 0. 30 

Fluoride of lime 7. 31 

Carbonate of lime „ „ 1. 74 

Chloride of lime 0.40 

Silica 2.55 

100. 00 
[II. Logrosan phosphorite, by Professor Daubeny.] 

Silica 1.70 

Protoxide of iron 3. 15 

Fluoride of lime 14. 00 

Phosphate of lime 81.15 

[TIL Logrosan phosphate, by Messrs. Pelletier and Donadei.] 

Phosphoric acid _.. 40. 12 

Silica and clay - 3. 10 

Hydrochloric acid 0. 06 

Hydrofluoric acid 2.27 

Lime 53. 50 

Peroxide of iron 0. 01 

Loss 0. 79 

1 Natural History and Physical Geography of Spain, Madrid, 1782. 

2 Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc. London, vol. 1, 1845, pp. 52-55. 

3 La Gazette de Madrid, July 22, 1849. Revista Minerva (March and July, 1855). 

(532) 



PBXK08E. 1 



PHOSPHORITES OF SPAIN. 



59 



[IV to VII. Logrosan phosphate, by Dr. r. U. Shepard, jr., and Dr. Warn* r.l 



1 


IV. White 
and hard. 

;;,;. BR 


V. Yellow- 
ish white 

and hard. 


VI. Rosy VI I." White, 
White and Soft, and 
compact, mammillary. 




8-2. 97 
7.40 


42.17 41.72 
92.06 91.09 
Trace ; 4 32 









[VIII to XIV. Cacerea phosphate, by Dr. C. U. Shepard, jr., and Dr. Wamor.] 



VIII. 1 
and pulver- 
ulent 


1 x . White 
and bard. 


X. Rosy and 

piilveiule.il. 


XI. White 

and haul. 


* o 

BD-g 

B 


XIII. 

Abmnlancia. 


.eh" ■ 




37. as 
81.60 
3.40 


32. 06 
69.99 
22. 97 


38.07 
83.11 
6.30 


29.09 
63.50 

2.70 


39.07 

85.29 

9.19 


27.00 

58. 94 

3.76 


36.18 

78.98 
Trace 


Equal bone phosphate . . . 
Sand 





[XV. Caceres phosphate, by Bobierre and Friedel.] 

Insoluble siliceous matter 21. 05 

Water expelled at red heat 3. 00 

Tribasic phosphate of lime 72. 10 

Loss, oxide of iron, etc 3.85 



100. 00 
[XVI. Phosphate from Montanchez, by Bobierre and Friedel.] 

Tribasic phosphate of lime 85. 03 

Carbonate of lime 10.35 

Water expelled at red heat 2.40 

Silica, oxide of iron, etc 2. 22 



100. 00 



Phosphorites include, besides those deposits already mentioned under 
that heading, the minerals staffelite, epiphosphorite, pyrophosphorite, 
eupyrchroite, hydro-apatite, monite, monetite, and other forms, all of 
which occur either in scattered pockets, incrustations, and concretions, 
or as radiated, botryoidal, and subcrystalline masses. Some of them 
occur scattered through certain phosphorites and rock phosphates, and 
are mentioned in connection with those deposits. They are rarely of 
any commercial importance. 

Fibrous and concretionary phosphorites have been mined in small 
quantities at Amberg, Bavaria. 

Thin seams of soft, whitish phosphorite, called osteolite, occur at Ha- 
nau, in Germany, but, as yet, the mineral has not been found there in 
sufficient quantities to be of commercial value. 

ROCK PHOSPHATES. 

This class of phosphates includes, as already mentioned, those de- 
posits which, having no definite chemical composition and lacking the 
homogeneous nature and other fixed characteristics of a true mineral, 

(533) 



60 DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME. [bull. 46. 

cannot be classified with mineral phosphates. They may be treated as 
amorphous nodular phosphates, phosphatie limestone beds, guanos, and 
bone beds. 

AMORPHOUS NODULAR PHOSPHATES. 

This subdivision comprises the phosphate deposits of South Caro- 
lina, North Carolina, Alabama, Martha's Vineyard, some of the Florida 
deposits, the deposits of North Wales, England, Belgium, northern cen- 
tral and eastern France, and Russia. They generally consist of calca- 
reous matter, more or less completely phosphatized, and occur either as 
loose nodules in a matrix of variable composition, or as a conglomer- 
ate in which the pebbles are phosphate of lime and the matrix is of a 
calcareous, phosphatie, siliceous, or ferruginous nature. They are the 
most important, commercially, of all the phosphate deposits. About 
600,000 to 700,000 tons are yearly mined, of which, in 1884, 437,000 tons 
came from South Carolina and the rest mostly from England, France, 
and Belgium. On the other hand, the total output of all the apatite 
mines in America and Europe in the best years has not exceeded 50,000 
tons. 

AMORPHOUS NODULAR PHOSPHATES OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 

The nature of the phosphate beds of South Carolina was recognized 
by Prof. C. U. Shepard, sr., before 1860, but the nodules were not 
put to any practical use until, in 1867-'68, Prof. F. S. Holmes and Drs. 
Pratt and St. Julien Eavenel, after showing by numerous analyses 
their richness in phosphate of lime, urged the formation of a company 
for mining these valuable deposits. Through the energy of Professor 
Holmes and Mr. Gr. T. Lewis, of Philadelphia, the first company for 
mining phosphate in South Carolina was organized in 1868. It was 
known as the Charleston Phosphate Mining and Manufacturing Com- 
pany. Since that year no less than fifteen large mining establishments 
have been started in South Carolina, of which some of the more impor- 
tant are the Bradley, Pinckney, and Bolton, in Berkeley County, and 
the Coosaw and Oak Point properties, in Beaufort County. 

Nodular phosphatie deposits are found at intervals all along the At- 
lantic Coast of the United States, from North Carolina down to the 
southern extremity of Florida, but the richest beds occur in South Car- 
olina, in a strip of country running from Broad River 60 miles along 
the coast in a northeast direction. The belt has a width of from ten 
to twenty miles. The phosphate does not occur continuously over this 
region, but in patches, sometimes having an area of many square miles 
and again only covering a few acres. In this whole area of more 
than nine hundred square miles, the hills rarely rise to a height of over 
ten to fifteen feet above high-water level, and the country is cut up into 
islands and peninsulas by the numerous tide- water inlets and creeks. 
The Tertiary deposits form a fringe along the -Atlantic Coast and the 
Gulf of Mexico from New Jersey to Texas, but are best developed in the 

(534) 



y, S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



BULLETIN NO. 48 PL. 




MAP 

OF PAB.TS OF 

CBARLESTON. COLIETON&BEAUFORT 
COUNTIES S.C. 

Crmpilod fcom -various jsodkbo 
SIMON'S* HOWE 



1-ENK08E.J PHOSPHATES OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 61 

central portion of this extensive belt. The Claiborne marls, the Santee 
buhrstones and limestones, and the shell sands of Alabama are the low- 
est beds of this series. Beneath them lie the Pedee marls, which belong- 
to the secondary formation and contain fossils resembling those from 
the Chalk of Europe. Immediately over this formation in South Caro- 
lina are the Eocene marls. These beds are very extensively developed 
in that State and are called by Mr. Baffin "The Great Carolina marl 
bed,* 7 which is divided into three divisions, known, in an ascending 
order, as the Santee Biver, Cooper Biver, and Ashley Biver beds. The 
whole formation is about seven handled feet deep and contains 55 to 95 
per cent, of carbonate of lime. It is one of the most important marl beds 
in the world, on account of both its extent and its agricultural value. The 
upper part of the Ashley marl contains a great number of fossil shark 
teeth and cetacean bones, and has been called by Professor Tuomey 
"the fish bed of the Charleston basin." Overlying this "fish bed" is 
a deposit of sands and clays of very irregular thickness and containing 1 
many shells. The bed sometimes runs out altogether and at other 
times is several feet in thickness. 1 It is directly overlaid by a bed con- 
taining many shark teeth and cetacean bones, as well as the remains of 
the mastodon, megatherium, elephant, deer, horse, cow, hog, muskrat, 
and other land animals. Besides these animal remains, the bed con- 
tains very numerous irregularly shaped nodules containing 25 to 70 per 
cent, of phosphate of lime. This is the bed that is worked for phos- 
phates (see Figs. 27, 28, and 29). Sometimes the underlying stratum 
has not existed or has been eroded and the nodule bed rests directly on 
the Eocene marls. It is composed mostly of nodules, associated with a 
much smaller and very variable quantity of bones of land and sea ani- 
mals, buried in a matrix of a variable character. Sometimes they are 
in a bed of highly siliceous sand, containing many flat pebbles of white 
quartz; at other times the matrix consists of ordinary clay or of sand 
and clay mixed. A light blue or green clay is also often seen. 

The nodules are of very irregular shape and vary from the size of 
a pea to that of a mass weighing a ton or more. The larger masses, 
however, are often composed of a number of small nodules cemented 
together. With the nodules and the bones are associated numerous 
phosphatic casts of the interiors of shells, as well as masses, of rare oc- 
currence, which have the appearance of fossil dung (coprolites). The 
nodules, like those of England and of France, are all more or less 
waterw r orn and rounded and are much bored by marine animals. It 
is generally the harder varieties that are most bored and most irregular 
in shape. This may be due to the fact that, being hard, they preserve 
their original irregular shape and the marks of the boring animals better 
than the softer varieties. The nodules vary in hardness from 2 to 4 
and have a specific gravity of 2.2 to 2.5. 2 When a fragment is rubbed, 

l F. S. Holmes: The Phosphate Rocks of South Carolina. 
2 Dr. C. U. Shepard, jr.: South Carolina Phosphates. 

(535) 



62 DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME. • [bull. 46. 

or, better, when two fragments are rubbed together, they give off an 
odor of decayed organic matter. They are marked by a complete ab- 
sence of crystalline structures, though in some rare cases, as in the 
Bull Eiver phosphate, a distinct concretionary structure is observable. 
The nodules generally contain casts of Eocene shells and, in some 
cases, marine bones and shark teeth. The bones of land animals, 
though mixed with the nodules, are never found embedded in them, 
showing that these bones were probably deposited after the formation 
of the nodules. 

The nodules are found on the bottoms of most of the rivers running 
through the phosphate district, having been washed out of their original 
beds. These river deposits in many cases have proved to be of great 
commercial value. The nodules are, as a rule, of a much darker color 
than those of the land and are often black. They are sometimes very 
siliceous, the separate grains of sand being plainly visible to the naked 
eye. These grains are due to the sand in the marl before it was phos- 
phatized. Such seems to have been the case with much of the Beau- 
fort Biver phosphate. In some cases, however, the siliceous matter is 
probably due to the replacement of some of the carbonate or phosphate 
of lime in the original nodule by silica, aud the result has been to make 
the nodule much harder. Such a silicifying action was probably due 
to the presence of soluble silicates in the river waters. In some 
places, as at the Bolton mine, the land nodules are also very siliceous, 
and possibly became so by having once formed the bottom of a river 
or a bay. 

At least eleven varieties of nodules, differing much in their physical 
character, and often in their chemical composition, may be distin- 
guished among the phosphates taken out of the South Carolina beds. 
These are: 

(1) A jet-black variety with a bright, shining, glossy enamel of the 
same color. It is very rare and generally occurs in small patches. It 
contains numerous fossils and shells. It is found in Parrot Creek 
(see map, PI. I). 

(2) A brown variety with a bright enamel of the same color. It is 
very rich and is found in considerable quantities at the Bradley mine 
and on the land of the Charleston Mining and Manufacturing Company. . 

(3) A light-brown variety with little or no enamel. It bleaches white 
when exposed to the sun and is found on the land of the Bradley Com- 
pany, of the Charleston Mining and Manufacturing Company, and in 
many other localities. 

(4) A light, chalky variety containing many shells and generally 
poorer in quality than the varieties mentioned above. It is very widely 
distributed over the South Carolina phosphate region, and is simply 
marl which has not been so highly phosphatized as the harder and 
darker varieties. 

(53G) 



Penrose. I PHOSPHATES OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 63 

(5) A dark grayish* black variety with little or no enamel. It is very 
siliceous and contains many shells. It is generally found in rivers, and 
is especially characteristic of the Stono River district. 

(G) A gray variety composed of a mass of shells and transparent sili- 
ceous sand, cemented together by a phosphatic cement. Sometimes 
shark teeth are included in the mass. At times it is hard and compact, 
and at others it is loose, soft, and porous. Such varieties are found in 
large quantities in the Beaufort River. They are often mixed with a 
much better quality of nodule which raises the average phosphatic con- 
tents. 

(7) A dark-gray, phosphatic conglomerate, in which the pebbles are 
quartz and feldspar, varying from the size of a mustard seed to that of 
a buckshot. The matrix is a dark-gray, phosphatic marl. This variety 
is very rare in South C arolina, but is found in small quantities in the 
Bull Kiver district. 

(8) Nodules having a black enamel and a light or dark gray interior. 
They contain many shell casts and are found in the Coosaw River and 
on the Edisto River at Fishburne's mine. 

(9) A variety consisting of a mass of concentrically laminated nodules 
cemented together with a matrix of marl containing many shells. This 
variety is rare and was found only in the Bull River. It is generally 
rich in phosphatic matter. 

(10) A ferruginous, rusty-brown variety, very siliceous and of poor 
quality. 

(11) Brown or black masses having the general appearance of fossil 
dung (coprolites) aud probably of that nature. They are hard and very 
rich in phosphate of lime. Real coprolites are of rare occurrence. 

Occasionally large, flat, non-concretionary masses are found, which 
are highly phosphatized on the upper side, while toward the lower side 
the mass grows poorer and poorer in phosphates, until it differs but 
little in composition from the underlying marl. In such cases the phos- 
phatized part of the rock is of a darker color than the other part. 
The upper side is also much smoother and harder than the lower side, 
which is often very jagged and is sometimes almost as soft as the under- 
lying marl. This formation shows that in some cases at least the phos- 
phatization has gone from above downward. Such a process is also 
proved by the fact that the marl immediately underlying the phosphate 
bed contains sometimes 20 to 30 per cent, of phosphate of lime, 1 while 
this quantity decreases with the depth until, at a few inches below the 
nodule bed, it contains only 10 to 20 per cent. According to Professor 
Holmes, the marl is much richer in phosphate of lime in those places 
where it is overlaid by nodules than where no nodules are found. 

Some of the varieties of nodules have been found to grow poorer in 
phosphoric acid as the center of the mass is approached. This is espe- 
l Dr. C. U. Shepard, jr. : South Carolina Phosphates. 

(537) 



64 



DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME. 



[BULL. 44. 



cially true of those nodules which are coated with an enamel, it being 
invariably the case that the hard, enamel-like crust is much richer than 
the soft and less compact interior. In this peculiarity the South Caro- 
lina nodules resemble many of those of England and the other phos- 
phate localities in Europe. The phenomenon is dwelt on as one of the 
strongest arguments for the theory originated by Professor Holmes, 
that the nodules have been formed by the phosphatization of lumps of 







Fig. 27. Section ENE. and WSW. through Pinckney's phosphate field, South Carolina. A, sand ; 
B, ferruginous sand; C, phosphate rock; D, Ashley marl. Scale: 1 inch = 60 feet. 

marl. It may, however, be mentioned that a similar condition of the 
nodule could be produced by the action of waters containing carbonic 
acid, which would tend to leach out the carbonate and leave the less 
soluble phosphate of lime. Of course this action would be more pro- 
nounced on the exterior than in the interior of the nodule, and con- 
sequently the result would be a mass much richer in phosphate of lime 
on the outside than in the inside. 




Fig. 28. Average section in Pinckney's phosphate mine, Berkeley County, South Carolina. A, clay 
sand; B, ferruginous sand; C, phosphate rock ; D, Ashley marl. Scale: 1 inch = 6 feet. 

The nodule bed varies in thickness from a few inches to about two 
feet and a half, the average being about seven to nine inches. It is only 
when the nodules are found in a pocket or depression in the underlying 
marl that the thickness reaches much over two feet, and even under such 
circumstances such a thickness is of very rare occurrence. The yield 
of phosphate per acre varies, not only with the thickness, but also with 
the compactness of the nodular stratum, as sometimes the nodules are 
packed as close as cobblestones in a road, while at others they are scat- 
tered loosely in the sand or clay matrix. The average yield of clean, dry 
phosphate is three hundred to twel ve hundred tons per acre. The phos- 
phate bed is thought by professor Holmes to be of Post-Pliocene age. In 

(538) 



PENKOSE.] 



PHOSPHATES OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 



65 



some places it crops out on the surface aud at others is found at a much 
greater depth. Under the city of Charleston it is found at a depth of 
over sixty feet. 1 Where the bed does not appear on the surface it 
is covered by alluvial deposits, consisting of clay, sand, or marl, or of 
strata of all three. Occasionally there is a stratum of highly ferrugi- 
nous sand or gravel, sometimes indurated into a regular " hard-pan," 
directly overlying the phosphate bed and from one to ten inches thick 
(Figs. 27, 28, and 20). Sometimes this ferruginous substance has pen- 
etrated the whole bed to a depth of several inches and cemented the 
upper nodules into a solid mass ; while the lower part of the bed is 
much looser and more easily mined. Again the sand overlying and 
intermixed with the nodules has sometimes been cemented together, 
especially in river bottoms, by the action of soluble silicates. Such has 
been the case with the phosphate in parts of the Stono Eiver. Here the 
nodules have in some places been completely permeated by silica and 
form a solid floor on the river bottom. 



1V&0*?: 



A 
one of Fishhurne's pits, Sonth Carolina. A, sand; B. ferrug 

nViatn nriflnlpa in nlntr TnatriY- Kr* nlfi • 1 lTir.h : — 7 feet 



Fig. 29. Section in one of Fishhurne's pits, Sonth Carolina. A, sand; B. ferruginous sand; C. phos- 
phate nodnles in clay matrix. Scale : 1 inch = 7 feet. 

The following sections by Dr. C. U. Shepard, jr., show the general 
mode of occurrence of the superficial beds of phosphate : 

A. Laud deposits : 
I. Soil and subsoil. A few inches to a foot in depth. 
II. A light-colored, siliceous clay, iron stained in places, and containing much fine, 

transparent sand, and minute scales of silvery mica, with little calcareous 

matter, one foot or more in thickness. 

III. (Wanting in tho more superficial "beds.) A Hue, argillaceous marl, probably al- 

tered marsh mud. It does not adhere to the tongue or give an argillaceous 
odor. Fragments of recent shells occur in this deposit. Its depth is about 
two feet. 

IV. A thin layer of coarse sand, one to three inches in depth. 

V. The phosphate nodules in either a loose, siliceous or a tenaceous, bluish or rich buft- 

colored, argillaceous marl, frequently accompanied with abundant fossil bones 
and teeth. The upper nodules are often harder, the lower softer, and at some 
land localities exhibit a gradual transition, by loss of cohesion aud decrease 
of phospbatic contents into 

VI. A marl, highly phosphatic toward the rock-bed, and contaiuiug occasionally 

20 to 30 per cent, of phosphates, but ? f the depth of a few inches containing 
only 10 to 20 per cent, of those constituents. 

1 Dr. C. U. Shepard, jr. : South Carolina Phosphates. 

BulJ, 46^ — 5 (539) 



66 DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME. Ibull.46. 

VII. Argillaceous or arenaceous marls, containing 7 to 10 per cent, of phosphates. 
B. River deposits : 

Beneath the river deposits occur either — 

I. A gray marl, sometimes in nodules resembling phosphate, with 5 per cent, of 
phosphates, underlaid by 
II. A ivhite, hard marl inclosing phosphate grains and containing 3 feo 5 per cent, of 
phosphates (Wando Eiver) ; or 
I. A green sand with some clay and rich in black phosphatic grains, occurring with 
the phosphatic rock and beneath it, containing 15 per cent, of phosphates. 
II. Soft and hard marls several feet in thickness, and containing 10 to 15 per cent, 
of phosphates (Stono River) ; or 
I. Hard marls. Poor in phosphates (i to 1 per cent,) unless their tops be coated 
with phosphate rock (Coosaw River). 1 

It is difficult to calculate the yield of river nodules per acre, as the 
currents have heaped them up in some places and carried them away 
from others. 

As will be seen from the accompanying map by Dr. 0. U. Shepard, jr. 
(PL I), there are three principal localities in the phosphate region where 
active mining operations are now carried on. It is not, however, all 
over these areas, but only in certain parts of them, that the nodules 
are found. Nor are they the only places in South Carolina where phos- 
phates occur, but they are the districts where they are found at a depth 
beneath the superficial deposits not too great to permit profitable min- 
ing. 1 The first of these regions lies north and east of Charleston and 
stretches from the Wando Eiver and the eastern branch of the Cooper 
Eiver on the northeast to Eantowles Creek and Stono Eiver on the 
southwest. In this area are some of the largest phosphate diggings in 
South Carolina, including as it does the Bradley, Charleston Mining and 
Manufacturing, the Magnolia, Bolton, and Black and Williams's mines. 
There also are the river deposits in the Wando, Stono, and Cooper Eivers. 
Large quantities of small nodules of excellent quality have been obtained 
from the bed of the upper part of the Wando Eiver. Phosphate of good 
quality has also been gotten from the bed of Stono Eiver, but the de- 
posit forms in some places such a solid floor on the river bottom that 
mining operations at the present low price of phosphate would be un- 
profitable. Mainly on account of their inaccessibility the deposits in 
the eastern branch of the Cooper have not been much worked. 

The second of the three principal phosphate districts is due west of 
the locality last described and extends from the Edisto Eiver on the 
east to Horseshoe Creek on the west, including the river deposits in 
these two streams. The phosphate found in this region is of excellent 
quality, but does not occur in a continuous bed or at a constant depth. 
Consequently it can be profitably mined in few places. It occurs largely 
in pockets and patches on the underlying bed. 

The third locality where phosphate exists at a conveniently accessible 
depth extends with intervals from the Bull to the Broad Eivers, and 

: Dr. C. U. Shepard, jr. : South Carolina Phosphates, 
(540) 



pbrbosb.] PHOSPHATES OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 67 

includes not only the deposits in these rivers, but also the deposits in 
the Coosaw and Beaufort Rivers and those on Chisholin's Island. This 
area is essentially a river mining district, though phosphate of good 
quality is mined on parts of Chisholui's Island by the Pacific Guano 
Company and by Messrs. Wiley and Gordon. Nodules of excellent 
quality are obtained from the bottoms of the Bull and Coosaw Rivers, 
but those of Beaufort River are generally very siliceous, the separate 
grains of sand being plainly visible to the naked eye. 

Outside of the localities mentioned above, phosphatic nodules have 
also been obtained from the upper part of Hospa Creek and from the 
Coosawhatchie River (see map, PI. I). Besides the bed of phosphatic 
nodules already described, other beds have been found in boring arte- 
siau wells in Charleston and the neighborhood which are at a much 
greater depth and are of a similar nature. Dr. C. U. Shepard, jr., in 
speaking of these borings, says : 

The samples thus collected have been carefully examined and analyzed, the most 
important contribution to our knowledge being the discovery of the existence of sev- 
eral deeper layers of phosphate rock, occurring at the depth of 300 feet from the sur- 
face, and, in the form of isolated pebbles, to a much greater distance. These lower 
deposits are probably not thicker than a few inches, and consequently they lack all 
but scientific interest. 

The phosphate of South Carolina is obtained from the land and from 
the river bottoms. The mining on the land is done in open trenches. 
The area to be mined has to be ditched in order to drain it before min- 
ing operations can be begun. Sometimes it is necessary to build em- 
bankments, to prevent the diggings from being flooded in stormy 
weather. At the Bolton mine, on Stono River, high tides sometimes rise 
two feet above the level of the land. Drainage is, in some mines, hast- 
ened by the use of steam pumps. It does not usually pay, unless the 
phosphate is of extraordinary quality, to remove more than eight or nine 
feet of overlying earth. The Pacific Guano Company, however, has 
lately introduced the use of a steam excavator to dig the nodules, and 
it is supposed that work can be profitably carried on at a greater depth 
with this machine than with pick and shovel. 

The phosphate is carried on cars, generally drawn by an engine, from 
the mines to the washers. Here it is broken by machinery into coarse 
fragments not larger than about five inches in diameter, and then passed 
into the washers, where it is freed from the adhering sand and clay. 
Several different kinds of washers are used. The most common one is 
a long trough, in which revolves a shaft armed with a projection in the 
form of a broken helix. The trough is inclined at a small angle. The 
nodules are passed from the breakers to the lower end of the trough 
and are forced up the inclined plane by the revolving shaft against a 
strong stream of water. Sometimes the phosphate is washed in a re- 
volving cylinder perforated with holes and supplied on the inside with 
spiral flanges of steel. A stream of water is thrown into the cylinder 

(541) 



68 DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME. [bull. 46. 

through an iron pipe. After passing through the washers the nodules 
fall on an iron screen, which separates the large masses from the smaller 
pieces. Sometimes two or three screens having different-sized meshes 
are used. The small-sized product is of lower grade than the large, as 
it is mixed with numerous siliceous pebbles which have gone through 
the screen with it. 

The next step is to dry the nodules. This is done either by burning 
them with wood in large sheds, which sometimes hold several thousand 
tons, or by passing hot air through the mass. Sometimes the nodules 
are treated with fire and hot air combined. In this way they are freed 
from the 12 to 18 per cent, of moisture which they contained after be- 
ing washed and are ready for shipment. On cooling, the nodules ab- 
sorb about 1 per cent, of moisture, and such is their porosity that they 
can be made to absorb 5 to 15 per cent, of water. 1 The drying of the 
nodules takes 35 to 40 cords of wood for 1,000 tons of nodules, and the 
process lasts thirty-six to forty hours. The drying and burning of the 
phosphate not only save the freight on the water which it originally 
contained, but also make it better fitted for manufacturing purposes. 

The nodules in the river bottoms are now obtained by dredging 
boats, though, a few years ago, large quantities were obtained by ne- 
gro divers and with oyster tongs. The dredging scoops have to be 
very strongly built in order to break through the nodular stratum. 
The boats are held in position at the four corners by what are called 
" spuds." These are strong square poles with iron points. They are 
dropped into the Avater before dredging is begun, and go through the 
nodule stratum and down into the bed below, thus affording a firm sup- 
port to the boat. The nodules are thrown from the scoop into the 
washer, which is on a lighter alongside the dredging boat. The washer, 
in some cases, is the same as those used by the land-mining companies ; 
but often it consists of a truncated cone, with perforated sides, revolv- 
ing on a horizontal axis. It is supplied on the inside with steel spirals, 
arranged around the side like the grooves in a rifle. Into both ends of 
the cone heavy streams of water flow. The nodules are dumped by the 
dredge into the small end of the cone and come out at the large end. 
They are then removed by a derrick to another lighter and towed to 
shore. 

Besides the ordinary dredging machine, several other contrivances 
are used for raising phosphate from river bottoms. The owners of 
the Sea Island Chemical Works, instead of using the ordinary dredg- 
ing scoop, have a contrivance consisting of six large claws which open 
when they descend, and close, forming a kind of bucket, when they rise. 
It is said that one of the machines which this company owns can 
dredge in 50 to 60 feet of water, while the ordinary dredging boat can- 
not raise the phosphate in over 20 feet of water. Another dredge has 
been lately introduced by Mr, Brotherhood and is known as the Broth- 
i J)r f C, U. ^hepardj Jr.: ^out^ Qarojijia Phosphates, 188Q ? 



fEXRosE.l PHOSPHATES OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 69 

erhood dredge. It consists of a revolving chain of thirty-two buckets, 
and is very similar to the dredge used to deepen the channel of the 
St. Lawrence River some years ago. 

The deposits of South Carolina, though of low grade compared with 
some others, are now more generally used than any other known phos- 
phate. The output of the mines, which is yearly increasing, is shipped 
to the North, South, and East by sea and to the West by rail. This 
popularity is due, not only to the cheapness of the phosphate ($3 to $6 
per ton in 1880), but to the many good qualities of the low-grade acid 
phosphate made from it. The fact that the nodule bed extends, at an 
accessible depth, over many miles of country, the easy approach for large 
vessels up to the very mines, the abundance of water, fuel, and labor, and 
a climate that permits mining operations to be carried on throughout 
the whole year, all combine to make the South Carolina phosphates the 
cheapest and consequently the most productive source of supply of 
this material. 

The mode of formation of the South Carolina nodules toas been a mat- 
ter of considerable dispute. Professor Holmes thinks that the surface 
of the Eocene marl was worn, by the action of boring animals and of 
erosion, into numerous lumps and balls. These, with bones of sea ani- 
mals, were washed upon the seashore and, as the coastline began to rise, 
were collected into salt-water lagoons and swamps. Numerous quad- 
rupeds came to lick the salt, and deposited their faeces and often died 
here. Hence the presence of bones of land and sea animals in the phos- 
phate beds. The phosphoric acid in the faeces and carcasses of these 
animals phosphatized the lumps of marl and thus formed the phosphatic 
nodules. 

Prof. X. S. Shaler thinks that the nodules, in sonre cases, have been 
formed by concretionary and segregating action at the bottom of 
swamps. Many facts, such as the frequent occurrence of phosphatic 
nodules in patches, and often in concave basins, as in Russia, as well 
as their association with peaty beds, as in North Carolina, seem, in 
many cases, to strongly favor this theory. Phosphatic nodules have 
also been found at the bottom of beds of limonite in the Ohio Valley. 
Professor Shaler thinks that the nodules were scattered sparingly in 
the deposit in which they were formed and that they were concentrated 
in their present position by the erosion of the original bed. 1 

Analyses of South Carolina roclc phosphates, hy Dr. C. U. Shepard, jr., in South Carolina 
Phosphates, Charleston, 1880. 

An average of several hundred analyses gave : 

Per cent. 
Phosphoric acid 25 to 28 

Equivalent to bone phosphate of lime 55 to 61 

Carbonic acid 2. 5 to 5 

Equivalent to carbonate of lime ... .. 5 to 11 

1 Proc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. 13, 1869-70, p. 222. 
(543) 



70 



DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OP LIME. 



iBULL. 46 



Per cent. 

Sulphuric acid , 0. 5 to 2 

Lime 35.0 to 42 

Magnesia Trace to 2 

Alumina Trace to 2 

Sesquioxide of iron l.Oto 4 

Fluorine l.Oto 2 

Sand and silica 4. to 12 

Organic matter and combined water _ _ 2. to 6 

Moisture 0.5 to 4 

Table of analyses of South Carolina rock phosphates by iTr. C. TJ. Shepardjr. 



Moisture 

Organic matter and com- 
bined water 



Carbonic acid 

Equal in carbonate of 
lime to -^ 

Phosphoric acid 

Equivalent in 
phosphate to. 

Sand 



bone 



■43 . 


t* CD 

M 

53 ° 


6 


r& 


ts 


rd 


<o 


HS 


T3 


O b* 

o2 

oo 


3 

o 



> 

s 

O 
PI 

o 


&n3 

© Si 

£«- 

'So 


!-> . 

P< 
o 
o 


"* .2 
M "s-i 

.So 

^5 fl 


3 
o 

9 


O 
PI 

si 
u 

o 


o 

PI 

|.2 

o 


xn w 


co 


*4 


o 


D 


w 


O 


o 


3.68 




1.50 


0.00 


.10 


0.84 


0.79 


0.57 


0.66 


4.78 




5.59 


5.26 


.07 


4.22 


5.80 


4.31 


3.75 


4.68 


4.28 


3.89 


4.47 


3.55 


3.54 


3.61 


3.79 


4.34 


10.69 


9.73 


8.84 


10.04 


8.06 


8.04 


8.19 


8.61 


9.84 


25.61 


26.68 


25.75 


27.01 


27.11 


27.26 


25.14 


27.26 


26.78 


55.91 


58.24 


56.21 


58.95 


59.18 


59.50 


54.88 


59.51 


58.46 


11.55 


12.41 


11.77 


11.37 


15.39 


9.06 


13.30 


9.06 


11.77 



Analysis of South Carolina rock phosphate from Oak Point Mine, by Dr. C. TJ. Shepardjr. 

Bone phosphate of lime 58. 66 

Carbonate of lime *. 6. 90 

Analysis ofphosphatic nodules from Bulow mine, property of William L. Bradley, by B. A. 

F. Penrose, jr. 

Bone phosphate of lime 62. 039 

Carbonate of lime 6. 914 

Organic matter and moisture 5. 106 



AMORPHOUS NODULAR PHOSPHATES OP NORTH CAROLINA. 

Deposits of phosphate of lime have been known to exist in the flat 
country near the coast of North Carolina for several years, but not much 
attention was paid to them until 1884, when, under the direction of Dr. 
Dabney, of the agricultural station of that State, they were thoroughly 
examined. The result seemed to show that the phosphates were either 
too scanty in quantity or too poor in quality to be of much commercial 
importance. They are found in the southeastern part of North Caro- 
lina, and principally in the counties of Sampson, Duplin, Pender, Ons- 
low, Columbus, and New Hanover. 

(544) 




MAP 

SHOWING LOCATION OF 

PHOSPHATE BEDS 

Now known within Ten Feet of the surface of ground, 

DUPLIN Ala SAMPSON COUNTIES, 

North Carolina. 
October. 188^. 



PARTOf 

SAMPSON. CO 




\ 



D/UPlkN CO 







$« ^^S*' KENANS\ 



PE-NROSK.] PHOSPHATES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 71 

The deposits are of two kinds : (1) Beds of nodules, resembling very 
much the South Carolina beds and (2) a conglomerate in which the 
pebbles are phosphate and the matrix a white calcareous rock. 

(1) The beds of nodules overlie the Eocene marl and consist of numer- 
ous phosphatic nodules, shark teeth and bones, associated in a sandy 
matrix or in a shell marl. Generally, the bed immediately overlies a 
stratum of shell marl and is occasionally overlaid by a similar stratum. 
Sometimes the underlying bed is replaced by a deposit of a pale-green, 
indurated sand, containing shark teeth and other bones. The two fol- 
lowing sections will show the mode of occurrence of these phosphates : 

1. Soil, sand or clay, 5 to 10 feet. 

2. Shell marl, 5 to 10 feet. 

3. Bed bearirg phosphate nodules, 1 to 3 feet. 

4. Sea-green, sandy marl, 2 to 4 feet. 

5. Ferruginous hard pan, G to 12 inches. 

G. Interstratiried lignites and same sands as in 4. 

The above section was obtained in a canal on the land of Mr. N. Dan- 
iel, Sampson County. Fragments of lignite are sometimes associated 
with the nodules. 

Section 2, from the beds on J. W. Best's farm, Duplin County. 

1. Sandy soil, 1 to 10 feet. • 

2. Nodule bed, 1 to 2 feet. 

3. Shell marl. 

The nodules are of a lead-gray color and vary from lumps the size of 
a mairs list to masses weighing several hundred pounds. The average 
size is larger than that of the South Carolina nodules. They vary in 
composition from the close, compact, and homogeneous masses found in 
some places in Onslow County, to the coarse-grained and highly siliceous 
rock of Sampson and Duplin Counties. The latter variety contains 
considerable quantities of sand, which can be distinguished with the 
naked eye, and occasionally siliceous pebbles the size of a chestnut. In 
fact, the nodules are often a phosphatic sandstone, in which the grains 
of sand are cemented by phosphatic matter. Occasionally they are 
found containing numerous Tertiary shells. Many shells are also found 
mixed with the nodules in the sandy matrix, and they preserve their 
most delicate outlines in a state of great perfection, while the nodules 
are much rolled and rounded. These facts would seem to show that the 
shells were brought into their present position by the animals that once 
inhabited them after the bed of nodules had been formed. A similar 
condition has been observed in the English beds of phosphate nodules. 
The Xorth Carolina nodules are much bored by moliusks and in every 
respect resemble those from the Bussian Cretaceous formation. 

The nodules all tend toward flat shapes, in which they differ from 
those of South Carolina, which have no definite form. One specimen 
found measured 18 inches long 12 wide and 2 thick. This flat character 
would seem to favor the idea that the nodules were formed by the phos- 

(545) 



72 DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME. [bull. 46. 

phatization of the surface of a bed of sandy marl. The phosphate, 
having a tendency to segregate, formed in some places richer than in 
others. Then, when the bed was exposed to erosion, only the parts 
which were strongly enough cemented together survived. Often, around 
the siliceous pebbles in a nodule, concentric bands of phosphate of lime 
may be observed, showing its strong tendency to form in segregations. 

These deposits have not as yet been put to any commercial use. 
They are of a low grade, averaging only about 45 per cent, phosphate 
of lime, and occur only in small patches of from one to twelve acres. 

(2) The second variety of phosphate deposits found in North Carolina 
belongs to the class of phosphatic conglomerates. They are found in New 
Hanover and Pender Counties and consist of a mass of Tertiary shark 
teeth, bones, nodules, and quartz pebbles, all well rolled and rounded 
and cemented together, along with grains of greensand, in a calcareous 
matrix. At Castle Hayne, New Hanover County, they occur in a bed 
sometimes over six feet deep. The largest pebbles and nodules are 
nearest the top of the formation and never exceed the size of a horse- 
chestnut. They grow smaller with the depth, and at six feet they are 
not larger than an apple seed. The character of the whole mass of the 
deposit also varies very much with the depth. The top of the bed is a 
hard and solid rock, but at two feet it begins to get softer, and at three 
to four feet the conglomerate bed is simply a mass of loose, calcareous 
marl containing pebbles. The section below, from near Castle Hayne, 
N. C, will show the nature of this bed. 

1. White sand to 3 feet. 

2. Brown to red, ferruginous, sandy clay or clayey sand, 1 to 3 feet. 

3. Green clay, 6 to 12 inches. 

4. Dark-brown, indurated peat, 3 to 12 inches. 

5. White, calcareous mar], to 2 feet. 

6. White shell rock, to 14 inches. 

7. Phosphatic conglomerate rock, 1 to 3 feet. 

8. Gray marl containing smaller nodules than the overlying bed, 2| to 4| feet. 

9. Light colored, calcareous marl, containing nodules which are smaller than those 
in the overlying beds and which grow feVer and smaller at a depth. Many shells. 

The line between the shell rock (6) and the conglomerate bed (7) is 
very sharply drawn. There are occasionally a few nodules found in the 
shell rock near the line of contact, which may have been derived from 
the conglomerate. The surfaces of all the beds are very uneven, espe- 
cially that of the calcareous marl in the above section, which occurs only 
in patches on top of the shell rock (Fig. 30). 

Near Wilmington, N. C, the following section was obtained : 

1. Sandy soil, 2 feet. 

2. Greensand bearing a few phosphatic nodules about the size of a pea, 4 feet. 

3. Gray marl, 6 feet. 

4. Limestone rock bearing a variable amount of nodules, of the same size as near 
Castle Hayne. 

The nodules in 4 sometimes make up as much as three-fourths of 
the contents of the bed; at others they occur scatteringly through the 

(546) 



ri.NKu.-r.. | 



l'HOSPHATtiS Otf NORTH CAROLINA. 



ra 



rock, and occasionally are not found at all. They are kidney and egg 
shaped and generally much less bored and irregular than the South 
Carolina nodules. They vary from gray to greenish black in color and 
have a specific gravity of 2.6 to 2.7. 




Fig. 30. Strata overlying the phosphate hed at Castle Hayne, New Hanover County, North Carolina. 
A, sand; B, ferruginous, sandy clay; C, green clay; D, indurated peat; E, calcareous marl; F, 
white shell rock; G, phosphate conglomerate; H, marl containing smaller nodules. Scale : 1 inch = 
5 feet. 

Two companies have been formed to grind this conglomerate rock 
and sell it for local use. The whole mass does not contain more than 
10 to 20 per cent, phosphate of lime, but it is said to have been success- 
fully used as a fertilizer. The separate nodules are very variable in 
composition. 

Table of analyses of Xorth Carolina rock phosphates made at the North Carolina experiment 

station. 



f I to XI. From neighborhood of Warsaw, 


Duplin County.] 








r - 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


V. 


VI. 


VII. 




0.92 

38.09 

3.81 

45.16 

20.10 


1.57 

28.92 
2.43 
57.18 

26.19 


1.08 

42.96 

4.18 

42.40 

19.45 


1.79 

5.17 

5.91 

37.28 

17. C7 


1.73 

59.47 

3.12 

28.19 

12.91 


1.06 

29.46 

54.89 

3.90 

25.15 


0.63 

37.36 

4.96 

44.51 

20.39 


Samples dried at 212 degrees F. 
contain sand and insoluble 
matter . 


Phosphate of lime 


Equivalent to phosphoric 




VIII. 


IX. 


X. 


XI. 


Moisture 


0.66 
30.44 

6.30 
53.03 
24.29 


0.39 
36.59 

6.30 
45.78 
20.97 






Sand and insoluble matter 




45.62 
4.59 
39.86 
18.26 


44.73 

2.30 

39.33 

18.01 


Carbonate of lime 


Phosphate of lime . . . _ 


Equivalent to phosphoric aci 


d 













(547) 



74 



DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME. 



[BULL. 46. 



Table of analyses of North Carolina rock phosphates etc. — Continued. 
[XII to XVI. From neighborhood of N. A. Faison's, Duplin County.] 



Moisture ft 

Sand and insoluble matter' 

Carbonate of lime 

Bone phosphate 

Equivalent to phosphoric acid 



XII. White 
compact. 



2 07 
1.49 
12.00 
71.82 
32.90 



XIII. Gray 
compact. 



2.50 
0.05 



76.82 
35.19 



XIV. White 
gritty. 


XV. 

Gray. 


0.77 


2.70 


32.79 


0.64 


1.45 


7.07 


7.42 


76. 54 


3.40 


35.06 



XVI. Com 

mon black. 



0.81 
45.91 

5.84 
36.02 
16.50 



[I to XV. Nodules from Sampson County, 1ST. C] 





I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


V. 


VI. 


VII. 


VIII. 


Sand and insoluble 

Carbonate of lime 


47.18 

5.91 

28.09 


47.41 

5.27 
38. 31 


70.78 
4.20 
20.24 


54.96 

3.91 

32.05 


1.58 

9.55 

69.55 


51.75 
4.52 
32.53 


32.16 
3.91 
50.73 


44.99 

5.25 

37.70 






IX. 


X. 


XI. 


XII. 


XIII. 


XIV. 


XV. 




36.04 
4.71 
44.82 


52.53 

5.68 

32.22 


49.34 

4.66 

33.62 


29.41 

5.68 

38.09 


51.93 
6.43 
29.93 


50. 42 

1.86 

35.52 


53.43 
6.43 

29.47 











[I to II. Nodules from Pender County, N. C] 



Sand and insoluble matter 

Carbonate of lime i 

Bone phosphate 



I. 


II. 


61.96 


24.77 


4.32 


15.55 


21.02 


47.50 



[I. Nodules from phosphatic conglomerate from New Hanover County, N. C] 



Sand. 



I. 

43.66 



Carbonate of lime 34.56 

Magnesia 0. 86 

Potash . 0.39 

Oxide of iron and alumina 0. 56 

Phosphate of lime 19.99 

Sulphuric acid Trace 

Chlorine Trace 

100 02 
[II to VIII. Nodules from phosphatic conglomerate from New Hanover County, N. C] 





II. 


III. 


IV. 


V. 


VI. 


VII. 


VIII. 


Sand and insoluble matter 


22.07 

42.12 

20.50 

9.39 


33.52 
20.45 
33.97 
15.57 


30.90 
14.16 


18.50 
39.04 
25.34 
11.61 


20.02 
42.12 
22.68 
10.39 


3.25 
51.34 
31.59 
14.57 


31.66 
15.94 
42.09 
19.28 




Equivalent to phosphoric acid . 



(548) 






PHOSPHATES OF ALABAMA. 



75 



Tabic of analyses of Xorth Carolina rock phosphate* etc. — Continued. 
[I to IV. Phosphatic conglomerate of New Hanover County, X. C] 



Band and insoluble matter 

Carbonate of lime 

Phosphate of lime 

Equivalent to phosphoric acid 



I. 


II. 


III. 


IV. 


20.28 


24.96 


42.98 


35.48 


57.29 


54.71 


10. 12 


51.81 


11.81 


16.42 


26. 64 


6.40 


5.41 




12.57 


2.83 



fl. Phosphate conglomerate from New Hanover County, N. C] 

Carbonate of lime 64. 26 

Phosphate of lime 11. 16 

Equivalent to phosphoric acid, 5.11. 
Magnesia 



0.81 

Potash 0.40 

Sulphates and chlorides Trace 

Sand, soluble silica, oxide of iron, alumina, etc., undetermined 23.37 



100. 00 



AMORPHOUS NODULAR PHOSPHATES OF ALABAMA. 



The phosphate deposits of Alabama belong to the Cretaceous forma- 
tion and are found in two parallel belts running across the State. The 
following very general section, in an ascending order, will show their 
positions : 

(1) Eutaw group. 

(2) Phosphate stratum. 

(3) Kotten limestone formation. 

(4) Phosphate stratum. 
{'•>) Eipley group. 

The Cretaceous formation of Alabama probably corresponds to the 
Upper Chalk of Europe, which also, in some places, contains beds of 
phosphatic nodules. It runs from the western part of Georgia in a 
WNW. direction through Alabama into Mississippi, where it takes an 
abrupt curve to the north. After passing through the western and north- 
ern part of Mississippi it enters Tennessee and runs through that State 
almost to the Kentucky boundary line. The phosphate deposits, it is 
said, can be traced along a considerable length of this formation, but, 
as far as has yet been discovered, it is only in Alabama, and there only 
in a few places, that the deposits are of considerable extent. In that 
State the Cretaceous strata dip gently to the south, and as a result of 
this dip the nodule bed, at the base of the Kotten Limestone, is found at 
ten to twenty miles north of the one at the summit of that formation. 

The general character of the two deposits is very much the same. 
They are composed of shells, phosphatic nodules, shell casts, and fossils, 
all much worn, broken, and rounded, and buried in a matrix of a soft, 
white or gray limestone. The nodules are generally flat in their gen- 
eral shape and chestnut brown in color, and average, in size, from one- 

(549) 



76 DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME\ [ZvllM. 

half an inch to three inches in diameter. They are very irregular in 
form and occasionally show one side which is completely phosphatized 
and another which is composed largely of carbonate of lime. This is 
strong evidence for the theory of their formation by the phosphatiza- 
tion of the surface of a calcareous bed, as mentioned in the case of the 
North Carolina deposits. The fossils of the two beds differ considera- 
bly. Ammonites are very plentiful in both, but Hippurites and Bacu- 
lites were found in much larger quantities in the lower bed than in the 
upper one. The following two sections will show the different relations 
of the two beds: 

(a) Upper bed (at Coatopa) : 

1. Greensand containing nodules and shell casts, but numerous only at the base, 
4 feet. 

2. Soft, calcareous rock containing nodules, 1 foot to 1£ feet. 

3. Eotten limestone. 

(h) Lower bed (at Hamburg) : 

1. Greensand bearing some casts and nodules, to 5 feet. 

2. Gray limestone containing many nodules, 5 feet. 

3. Hard, indurated sand ledge, containing shells, 8 to 12 inches. 

4. Yellow sand containing shells, 2 feet. 

5. Ferruginous sand containing specks of mica, about SO feet, 

6. Indurated sand ledge containing shells 8 to 12 inches. 

7. Yellow sand containing shells, 2 feet. 

8. Greensand. 

The section of the upper bed is well seen at the town of Coatopa, in 
Sumter County. The Greensand here is often oxidized and has a rusty- 
red appearance ; it composes a large part of the surface soil in the 
neighborhood and forms part of the so-called " Black Belt," famous 
for its* fertility. It contains many phospnatic shell casts, but is -gener- 
ally richest in them near the line of contact with the underlying bed, 
where they sometimes make up 50 per cent, of the whole mass. Occa- 
sionally they cover the whole surface of the ground and must be carted 
away in order to permit agricultural operations. The underlying bed 
contains many more nodules and shell casts than the Greensand. 
Sometimes it is almost a solid mass of them with a soft, gray, calcareous 
matrix. The bed is from 1 foot to 1J feet thick and seems to underlie 
a large extent of country. In some places the nodules and fossils are 
more scattered in the bed than in others, and in still other places the 
bed has been entirely eroded away and the Greensand comes into 
direct contact with the Eotten Limestone. Very few bones were found 
in this upper bed. 

Outcrops of this same nodule bed can be seen near the Tombigbee 
River, at Moscow, and also at Livingston, on the Sucarnochee River. 
In the underlying Rotten Limestone there are no phosphatic nodules. 

The section of the lower nodule bed is seen at numerous places all 
across the State. Thus it is found at Eutaw, Selma, Greenborough> 
Prattville, Wetumpka, and especially well at Hamburg, near Marion. 

(550) 



PENROSE] 



PHOSPHATES OF ALABAMA. 



77 



In this last place the surface is largely composed of greensand, though, 
in some places, this is washed off, exposing the phosphate-bearing bed. 

Where the ground has been much eroded and cut into gullies, it is cov- 
ered by a solid sheet of nodules, phosphatized shell casts, fossils, fer- 
ruginous concretions, and unaltered shells. There is a much larger per 
cent, of the brown nodules here than in the upper nodule bed; but as 
in that bed, so here, the nodules are very few compared with the fossils 
and shell casts. The indurated ledge represented in the section seems 
to have the same general composition as the sand that underlies it, but 
to be in a hardened condition. 

The phosphate deposits of Alabama are more difficult to mine than 
the South Carolina phosphates and cannot be shipped as cheaply. Con- 
sequently they have not as yet been put to any practical use. But they 
have been found in sufficient quantities in several places to become of 
considerable local importance. Among other places, they are found 
in considerable quantities on the land of Mr. J. F. Wiatt, near Coatopa, 
and of Mr. Spencer aud Messrs. D.ivis, near Hamburg. 

Table of analyses of amorplwus nodular phosphates of Alabama. 
[Northern belt, (a) The nodules and phosphatic casts of fossils from Spencer's field, Hamburg, Ala.] 





Phosphoric 
acid. 


Bone phos- 
phate 


Analyist. 




22.00 

19.80 
38.00 


48.00 

43.16 
R9 Stt 


W. I. Herzberg, University of Ala- 
bama. 

Do. 
John Daniel, University of Alabama. 

Do. 

Charles Gibson, Chicago. 

Jchn Daniel, University of Alabama. 

Do. 

Do. 

Do. 


Phosphatized shell 




35 5 77 29 


Surface nodules, sample I 

pound 

Xodules from near Selma .. 
Xodules from near Selma . . 
Xodules from near Selma .. 
Nodules from near Selma . . 


25.66 

26.1 

25.8 

36.0 

38.0 


55.88 
56.90 
56. 24 
78.48 
82.84 



[ (6) Matrix of the nodules from Spencer's field, Hamburg, Ala.] 



J Phosphoric 
acid. 


Bone phos- 
phate. 


Analyist. 




5.12 
1.2 


11.16 
9.16 


E. M. Harris, University of Alabama. 
John Daniel, University of Alabama. 
L. L. Dean, University of Alabama. 

Do. 
Charles Gibson, Chicago. 

Do. 




Matrix of nodules 


4. 65 J 10. 14 
8. 00 17. 44 




Blue matrix of nodules 

■ White matrix of nodules . .. 


2.2 
3.6 


4.80 
7.85 



(551) 



78 



DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME. 



[BULL .46. 



Table of analyses of amorphous nodular phosphates of Alabama — Continued. 
[II. Southern belt. (Bulletin No. 5 of the department of agriculture of Alabama.)] 





Insoluble 
matter. 


Phosphoric 
acid. 


Bone phos- 
phate. 




8.48 
15.02 

9.38 
25. 52 


1.10 

.64 

14.56 

1.55 


2.40 

1.39 

31.78 

3.38 











AMORPHOUS NODULAR PHOSPHATES OF MARTHA'S VINEYARD. 

The phosphates of Martha's Vineyard occur as black or dark-gray 
nodules, varying from one-fourth of an inch to four inches in diameter, 
in two beds of Greensand. The beds are of Tertiary age and are well 
seen in the cliffs at Gay Head. They are each 18 to 24 inches thick 
and dip at an almost vertical angle. They are associated with beds of 
lignite, clay, and sand. The nodules are mixed with numerous bones 
of cetaceans, crustacean remains, and other fossils. The more southerly 
of the two beds contains 5 to 15 per cent, of nodules and bones, while 
the bed to the north contains in some places almost no nodules, and 
in others as much as 25 per cent, of them. The nodules have a water- 
worn appearance and have been much bored by marine mollusks. 
They give off a smell of decayed organic matter when two fragments 
are rubbed together, and have a hardness of about 3. 

This deposit has not yet been put to any practical use. The nodules 
are probably too scattered in the bed and too expensive to mine to al- 
low them to be of any commercial value. 1 s 

AMORPHOUS NODULAR PHOSPHATES OF FLORIDA. 

Phosphate deposits have been found in various places in Florida, 
but as far as is yet known they are either of too small extent or of too 
poor quality to pay for mining. The only deposit which covers more 
than a few acres is found in Alachua County, near the central part of 
the State. The phosphate found here belongs to the subdivision of 
phosphatic conglomerates. The rock consists of small pebbles, from 
the size of a mustard seed to that of a pea, closely packed in a matrix 
of indurated calcareous marl. The pebbles are very compact, have a 
small conchoidal fracture and sometimes an enamel-like luster. They 
are creamy white to chestnut brown in color and are associated with 

1 It seems to me certain that these beds containing nodules were deposited in the 
delta of a large river and that the nodules, together with the greater part of the fos- 
sils with which they are intermingled, were derived from pre-existing strata in essen- 
tially the same manner as those which occur in the estuaries of the rivers near 
Charleston, S. C. 

For a further description of these deposits see a report on the island of Martha's 
Vineyard, nowin press, to appear in the Seventh Annual Report of the U. S. Geologi- 
cal Survey. -N. S, S. 

(552) 



rEXROSE.J 



PHOSPHATES OF FLORIDA. 



79 



worn mid rounded bones and shells. Prof. 0. U. Shepard, sr., tbinks 
that many of the pebbles may be the worn casts of marine shells, while 
some of them seem to be fragments of coral. This conglomerate occurs 
in masses weighing from one to twenty pounds. The largest mass yet 
found was 18 inches long, 14 wide, and 4 thick. The pebbles occur in a 
bed covering about ten acres and are associated with pieces of a porous 
limestone rock, very common in the region. The bed varies from a 
fraction of a foot to five feet in thickness. Sometimes it crops out at the 
surface, and at others it is found at a depth of four or more feet. At 
Gainesville, a town 19 miles west of this bed, a similar rock is said to 
have been found, in boring an artesian well, at a depth of 248 feet. 

The masses of rock are not nodules, but seem to be simply broken 
fragments. They are much weathered and rounded and are buried in 
sand. 

In some places the pebbles, rounded bones, and coral fragments occur 
loose in a calcareous matrix, as if weathered out of the original con- 
glomerate. Samples of pebbles from this loose material are said by 
one of the owners of this place (Dr. Simmons) to average 85 per cent, 
phosphate of lime, while the whole mass of the rock, as analyzed by 
C. U. Shepard, jr., averages about 48 per cent. 



Fig. 31. Section in qnarry at Eocky Hill, on Lochloosa Creek, near Magnesia Springs, Alachua 
County, Fla. A, sandy soil; B, calcareous nodoles, white, brown, and purple, embedded in sand; 
C, spongy, calcareous rock, blending at a deptb of 3 to 4 feet into a pbosphatic rock. Scale : 1 inch= 
8 feet. 

On the northwest side of this bed runs a stream known as Loch- 
loosa Creek, beyond which is a ridge rising sixty to sevent3'-five feet 
above the creek, and called Rocky Hill. The hill is overlaid almost 
entirely by a deposit. of calcareous stones and pebbles, embedded in 
sand, which sometimes entireby runs out, and again reaches a depth of 
over six feet. Below is a soft, porous, calcareous rock, which is of a 
spongy consistency and hardens on exposure to air. It is quarried for 
building the chimneys and foundations of houses. In one of the quar- 
ries examined this formation gradually blended, at a depth of three to 
four feet, into a massive and compact phosphate rock, which is similar 
in appearance to the phosphatic fragments in the bed described above, 
except that it is in a solid mass, and is probably the ledge whence the 
fragments were derived. The surface of the spongy, calcareous rock is 
very uneven and has been much eroded (Fig. 31). It seems as if Eocky 
Hill, when submerged, was much worn before the pebbles and the sand 
were deposited on top of it. 

(553) 



80 



DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OP LIME. 



[bull. 46, 



AMORPHOUS NODULAR PHOSPHATE DEPOSITS OP NORTH WALES. 

The rock phosphate deposits of North Wales belong to the Garadoc 
and Bala group of the Cambro Silurian or Lower Silurian formation. 
They immediately overlie the Bala limestone beds and are overlaid by 
fossiliferous shales, sometimes more or less calcareous. They belong 
to the class of rock phosphates, or phosphates having no definite chem- 
ical composition, and are remarkable as being, geologically, the oldest 
of the commercially important phosphate beds which still preserve the 
remains of organic life. 

The phosphate bed has been traced by Mr. D. 0. Davies from the 
town of Llanfyllin to the hills north and west of Dinas Mowddwy. 1 Mr. 
Davies has calculated that the area already known to contain this bed 
amounts to almost 140 square miles, and he thinks it will probably be 
found wherever the Bala limestone occurs. 






I'yM;','/'/!' 



' ' ' 

sfrfi'll'l'i'iijl , ' ' ' ' ' '■ ' ': i'ii7/('/'''''///''// 1 '- 







Fig. 32. Section of strata at Cwmgwynen phosphate mine, southwest of Llangynog, North Wales; 
after D. C. Davies, Quarterly Journal Geological Society of London, 1875. Scale: 1 inch = 80 feet. 

As will be seen from the sections (Figs. 32 and 33), the formation in 
which the phosphate bed occurs has been much twisted and contorted. 
In fact, the phosphate bed, wherever found, is in an almost vertical po- 
sition. It varies from ten to fifteen inches in thickness and consists of a 
mass of black nodules, varying from the size of an egg to that of a co- 
coanut, u closely packed together and even running into each other." 
The nodules are cemented into a solid mass by a black matrix, and the 
whole mass gives an average of 46 per cent, phosphate of lime, while 
the separate nodules sometimes contain 64 per cent. The bed contains 
considerable graphite, which gives the black color to both the nodules 
and the matrix and often gives the former a polished and glossy ap- 



CrepJ. Mag-, vol. 2, London, J875, p. 183. 

(554) 



ten-rose.] 



PHOSPHATES OF NORTH WALES. 



81 



pearance. There are numerous remains of animal life in the bed, but 
the whole deposit has been so affected by chemical action that, though 
the traces of organic forms are left, it is often very difficult to distin- 
guish them. Still Davies 1 has recognized the remains of Modiola, 
Aviculopecten, Orthoceras, Orthis, Linyula, and trilobites, besides traces 
of many other species. 




A BS O EfJ 



FlG. 33. Section of strata at Berwyn phosphorite mine, west of Llang.vnog, North "Wales; after 
D C. Davies, Geological Magazine, London, 1875. Scale: 1 inch=32 feet. 

M. H. Johnson, 2 who has made numerous sections of the ^North Wales 
nodules, has found that many of them contain a species of sponge. He 
has also found in the nodules fragments of mollusk and crustacean 
shells, with bodies looking like Coscinopora. From these observations 
he concludes that the nodules are of organic structure. It seems more 
likely, however, that the nodules resulted from the phosphatization of 
a calcareous bed, which may have contained the organic remains dis- 
covered by Mr. Johnson in the nodules. Davies thinks the bed repre- 
sents the remains of an old Laminarian zone and that it originated by 
the phosphatization of calcareous matter by the phosphates from animal 
matter and seaweed. 

The nodules have been so affected by heat and chemical action that 
they often are found blending and running into each other. They some- 
times blend gradually with the matrix, the whole bed assuming a shaly 
structure, so that it is often impossible to draw a distinct line of divis- 
ion. The mass of the stratum is sometimes found to have a very sim- 
ilar composition over large areas ; but where the underlying bed be- 
comes more arenaceous the nodules become much poorer in phosphate 
and richer in siliceous matter. 3 Thus, at Green Park, the bed averages 
only 20 per cent, phosphate of lime. The phosphate stratum, in some 
places, contains numerous concretions and crystals of sulphide of iron, 
which rust on exposure to the atmosphere, thus changing the color of 
the bed from black to brown. The phosphate of lime is itself often 
replaced by these sulphides. Such is the case in many parts of the 
western outcrop of the bed, especially on the flanks of Mount Aran 

iGeol. Mag., vol. 4, London, H67, pp. 251-253. 
-Ibid., vol. 2, n. s., 1875, p. 238. 

3 This is a strong argument for the theory of the formation of the nodules by the 
phosphatization of the underlying bed. 

Bull. 46 6 (555) 



82 DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME. Tbull.46. 

Mowddwy. Such large quantities of sulphides and graphite as are 
found in this phosphate bed, according to Davies, seem to show the 
former presence pf vegetable life. 

An examination of the analyses given farther on will show that there 
is little or no carbonate of lime in these phosphates. Davies, in speak- 
ing of this fact, says i 1 

Schmidt found in the inner side of the mouth of Unio and Anodonta no less than 
15 percent, of phosphate of lime, 3 per cent, of carbonate of lime, and 82 per cent, of 
organic matter, from which the inference was drawn that the phosphate was sepa- 
rated from the blood by this organ for the purpose of cell formation. 2 The doctor adds : 
"It seems j>robable that the carbonate is converted, in the animal, into phosphate by 
the phosphorus it contains." Here, perhaps, we have a clew to the missing carbonate. 
The great preponderance of phosphatic organisms, with which the period covered by 
the deposit commenced, gradually absorbed and secreted all carbonate of lime, 
whether held in solution in the water or redissolved from the shells of dead mol- 
lusks ; and so, turning it into phosphate, grew and multiplied exceedingly, and be- 
came at last almost sole masters of the position by this appropriation, until the sup- 
ply of carbonate of lime became insufficient for their sustenance, as the mineral con- 
ditions came on under which the overlying shales were deposited. 

It seems possible, however, that the absence of carbonate of lime in 
the Wales phosphate is due to its having been leached out during the 
process of partial metamorphosis to which the bed has been exposed, 
as the effect of metamorphosis is often to segregate from the rock which 
is being acted on the minerals of which it is composed. 

The phosphate bed is often separated into two or three smaller beds 
by thin bands of the underlying limestone. It is always found, how- 
ever, that when the upper one or two beds, as the case may be, run into 
the overlying shale they always run out and the lowest bed is always 
the continuous one. 

The bed immediately underlyin g the phosphate bed is a pure lime- 
stone, often covered on the surface with small brachiopods and other 
fossils. It has an average thickness of 6 inches and contains 15 to 20 
per cent, phosphate of lime. Like the phosphate bed, it is very con- 
tinuous and the two are always found together. It is underlaid by a 
large series of interstratined shales and more or less fossiliferous lime- 
stones. This formation, known as the Bala limestone, gradually runs 
into the underlying ash beds. 

The phosphate bed is overlaid by a series of fossiliferous shales. 
Those immediately over it have all been phosphatized to a greater or less 
extent, and the more the phosphatization has gone on the more com- 
pletely have all traces of organic life been obliterated. In the overly- 
ing shale at Cwmgwynen, Davies found remains of Uchinosphwrites 
balticus, Caryocystites, and other echinoderms, Lingulw, Modiolce, Theca 

'Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc. London, 1875, vol. 31, pp. 364. 

2 Unio and Anodonta, as well as all other species of the suborder to which they 
belong, are fresh-water forms, while the beds under consideration are certainly of 
marine origin. It is most likely that the phosphate matter came from brachiopods 
and trilobites.— N. S. S. 

(556) 



pexrose.] PHOSPHATES OF NORTH WALES. 83 

Forbesii, Cycloceras arcuatum, G. Sonax, Orthocerata, Illcenus Davisii, 
and other forms. 

The phosphate bed of North Wales was discovered by a miner in 1S63, 
in a ravine near Cwmgwynen, 5 miles from the town of Llanfyllin. 
At first the nature and value of the bed were unknown, but finally a 
specimen was sent to Dr. A. Yolcker, who analyzed it and made known 
its importance. Several mines have since been started at Cwmgwyuen, 
Peuygarnedd, Berwyn, Llanfyllin, and other places, but none of them 
has been successful and at present no Welsh phosphate is mined. 
The reasons for this want of success were the distance of the mines from 
any railroad or navigable river, the low percentage of phosphoric acid 
(see analyses), and the depressed state of the phosphate market. More- 
over, the bed is expensive to work, as regular mining operations are 
necessary to win the phosphate; it also often contains considerable 
iron, which causes superphosphate made from it to have a sticky con- 
sistency. 

Analyses of North Wales rock phosphates. 

fland II. Analyses of two specimens from Cwmgwynen, by Volcker (Quart. .Jour. Geol. Soc. Lon- 
don, 1875).] 

I. II. 

Phosphate of lime 64.16 48.50 

li There was no carbonate of lime, some fluoride of calcium, alumina, and oxide of 

iron. 
" The darker-colored contained more graphite and were richer in phosphate of 

lime than the lighter-colored specimens." 

[HI. Analyses of nodule from Berwyn mine, Xortb Wales, by D. H. Kicbards (ibid., vol. 31, pp 

364, 365).] 

Moisture and organic matter 4.200 

Sand 22.600. 

Tribasic phosphate of lime 64. 165 

Oxide of iron and alumina 6.890 

Other constituents not determined 2. 145 

100. 000 
Another analysis of a similar nodule gave 61. 44 per cent, phosphate of lime. 

[IV and V. Analyses of Berwyn miue pbospbate, 25ortb Wales, by F. C. Hills and Co. (ibid., p. 365). J 

IV. V. 

Loss on burning , 6. 77 3. 06 

Phosphoric acid (1) . 22.54 20.92 

Lime 31.08 30.13 

Oxide of iron and carbonic acid 19. 12 22. 88 

Insoluble matters 20.49 23.01 

Total 100.00 100.00 

(I) Equal to tribasic phosphate of lime 49.207 45.67 

Five other analyses of the bulk of the deposit, made by Messrs. Hills, gave an aver- 
age of 46.85 per cent, phosphate of lime. There was also in all the samples about 
one-half per cent, of copper. Analyses of phosphate from near Llanfyllin, North 
Wales, gave Messrs. Hills " a range of from 20 to 30 per cent, of phosphate of lime," 
(Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc. London, 1875, vol. 31, p. 365.) 

(557) 



84 DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME. [bull. 46. 

« 
[VI aiid VII. Analyses of two samples from northwest of Dinas Mowddwy and Llan.y-Mcrwddwy, 
North Wales, by Hills (Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc. London, 1875).] 

VI. VII. 

Phosphate of lime 2.90 1.72 

Sulphur 34.38 34.20 

The rest was made up of sand, irou, and alumina. 

[VIII. Analysis of North Wales phosphatic limestone, by Volcker (Rep. Brit. Assoc. Advanc. Sol, 

1865, p. 38).] 

Tribasic phosphate of lime 34. 92 

Oxide of iron 2. 34 

Alumina 6. 52 

Carbonate of lime 20.75 

Carbonate of magnesia 5. 92 

Magnesia, in a state of silicate 2. 07 

Iron pyrites 2. 79 

Sulphuric acid 0. 16 

Insoluble siliceous matter 20. 95 

Organic matter and loss 3. 58 

100. 00 
[IX. Analysis of phosphatio black shale, by Volcker (ibid., p. 38).] 

Organic matter and loss , 3. 98 

Lime 37.16 

Phosphoric acid 29. 67 

Equal to tribasic phosphate of lime, 64. 16. 

Magnesia 0. 14 

Oxide of iron 1. 07 

Alumina •. * 5. 84 

Matter insoluble in dilute hydrochloric acid 22. 14 

100. 00 
[X. Analysis of phosphatic black shale, by VSlcker (ibid., p. 39). ] 

Tribasic phosphate of lime „ 52. 15 

Lime, present as fluoride of calcium and as silicate 4. 23 

Magnesia t -. 0.32 

Alumina 7. 71 

Oxide of iron „ 2.01 

Sulphuric acid 0. 26 

Iron pyrites . . '. 7. 52 

Insoluble siliceous matter 22. 44 

Organic matter and loss 3. 36 

100. 00 

AMORPHOUS NODULAR PHOSPHATE DEPOSITS OP ENGLAND. 

Phosphates are found in England, both in the Cretaceous and Ter- 
tiary formations. The Cretaceous phosphates are the most important, 
in both quantity and quality. They occur in two different parts of the 
Lower Cretaceous, namely, in the Upper and in the Lower Greensand. 

Phosphatic beds of Cretaceous Upper Greensand. — The outcrop of the 
Upper Greensand formation in England begins in the north at Flam- 
borough Head, in Yorkshire, and runs west and southwest for about 
twenty miles, when it turns abruptly to the southeast and extends con- 
tinuously in that direction to within three miles of the north coast of the 
Wash, where it becomes covered with alluvium. It appears again on 

(558) 



mm; MOSPHATES OP ENGLAND. 85 

the south shore of the Wash at St. Edmunds and runs south by south- 
west to Downham Market. Here it becomes covered with alluvium 
and does not appear again for about twenty-three miles, when it crops 
out three miles below Cambridge, on the Cam. From Cambridge it 
runs iu a southwesterly direction through the counties of Cambridge, 
Bedford, Buckingham, Oxford, Berks, Wilts, and Dorset, and reaches 
the southern coast at Lyme Kegis and Sid mouth. On the southern 
coast of Dorsetshire there are numerous outcrops of Upper Greensand, 
as well as on the Isle of Wight. Iu the southeast of England there 
is also a very considerable Greensand outcrop. It commences near 
Beachy Head, in Sussex, and runs west by a little north to Petersfield, 
in the east of Hampshire. Here it turns abruptly to the north and runs 
in this direction to Alton and Farnham, in Hampshire and Surrey, re- 
spectively. Thence it takes another abrupt turn to the east, and runs 
in a geueral easterly direction until it comes to the coast again, at Folke- 
stone in Kent. 

The Lower Greensand is not so continuous as the upper, but it oc- 
curs at intervals along most of the outcrops mentioned above, and in 
Sussex and Kent it is the uninterrupted accompaniment of the Upper 
Greensand. In Yorkshire it runs from Flamborough Head west for about 
fifteen miles. It crops out again with the Upper Greensand about three 
miles south of Barton and runs continuously to Burgh. Again it crops 
out near Cambridge, and extends thence to Buzzard in Bedford. From 
there on, in a southwest direction, it occurs in small outcrops along the 
line of the Upper Greensand In the Isle of Wight there are large 
outcrops of it. This same Greensand belt can be traced across the 
English Channel to the Continent. In the Brunswick and Hartz dis- 
tricts, at Goslar, Schoeppenstedt, and Salzgitter, the same nodules and 
shell casts are found as in the Lower Greensand in Cambridgeshire and 
Bedfordshire. But, though the belt is thus seen to have a very wide 
extent, the conditions which are necessary for the profitable working 
of a phosphate deposit are so many and so rarely satisfied that the phos- 
phatic beds have been mined in very few places throughout this many 
hundred miles of outcrop. On the Continent the bed has been worked 
to no considerable extent. 

The relative positions of the Upper and Lower Greensand formations 
is best shown by a section. The following one is given by Messrs. 
Paine and Way. 1 

The Cretaceous formation of England is divided into the Chalk and 
the Greensand. These again are subdivided as follows : 

( 1. Soft, white chalk with flints. 
Chalk < 2. Hard, white chalk with few or no flints. 

( 3. Chalk marl. 

( 1. Upper Greensand and firestone rock. 
p , J 2. Gault, or blue marl, 

ureensana...* «^ 3 Lower Greensand; made of iron sand and 

I occasional limestone beds. 



L Jour. Royal Agric. Soc, vol. 9, 1848. 
(559) 



86 DEPOSITS OF PliOSMiTE OF LIME. [bull. 46. 

The first two beds of the chalk are very poor in phosphoric acid, 
rarely containing over twelve one-hundredths of 1 per cent., but the 
underlying marl is much richer and sometimes contains almost 2 per 
cent, of phosphoric acid. The marl is of a grayish color and contains 
specks of Greensand, which become more and more numerous until the 
marl gradually merges into the underlying Greensand bed containing 
the phosphatic nodules. The passage from the Upper Greensand to the 
Gault is often very abrupt, especially in Cambridgeshire and Bedford- 
shire, where the nodule bed often lies on the eroded surface of the 
Gault. The Lower Cretaceous deposits of Cambridgeshire and Bed- 
fordshire differ from those of the south and west of England in {he 
fact that the former lack that great thickness of Upper Greensand which 
exists in the southern counties. At the same time the lower beds of 
the Chalk are the same in both areas. In Hampshire and Dorsetshire 
there is a thin stratum, similar to the Cambridge nodule beds, which, 
like it, passes up gradually into the Chalk marl. But the difference is 
that in the case of the southern counties the arenaceous deposit, which 
sometimes reaches the thickness of many feet, comes between the phos- 
phate bed and the Gault, while in the case of the Cambridge and Bed- 
ford deposits the nodule bed, which rarely exceeds one foot in thickness, 
rests immediately on the Gault. Concerning the absence of this arena- 
ceous deposit in Cambridgeshire, Mr. O. Fisher 1 says: "It is probably 
due to the ridge of old rocks beneath the London area, which shut off 
the early Cretaceous sea, to the north of it, from those southwestern 
lands which yielded the sandy spoils." He also suspects a similar cause 
to have "produced the marked change between the Lower Cretaceous 
rocks in Cambridgeshire and the corresponding beds in Norfolk and 
Lincolnshire." Mr. Seeley 2 thinks that this increased thickness of 
Greensand to the south and southwest is due partly to the shelving of 
the sea bottom towards the south and partly to a current piling it up 
in the hollow, but principally because the southern area was nearer to 
the old plutonic rocks, whence, he thinks, the necessary ingredients of 
the Greensand came. 

The principal phosphate diggings have been in the Upper Greensand 
of Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire. The nodules in this deposit are 
buried in the Greensand, which varies from one inch to a foot in thick- 
ness and which is all that is left in these districts to represent the im- 
mense thickness of Greensand in the southern counties. In fact, it is a 
matter of serious doubt with some geologists whether the two deposits 
really represent one and the same geologic horizon. 

The matrix of the nodules is not pure Greensand, but is composed 
partly of siliceous and calcareous matter and partly of glauconitic and 
phosphatic grains. The siliceous matter consists mostly of colored 

1 Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc. Loudon, vol. 29, 1873, p. 62. 
» Geol. Mag., vol. 3, London, 1866. 

(560) 



K-nrose] PHOSPHATES OF ENGLAND. 87 

quartz, obsidian, and grit. The calcareous matter is composed mostly of 
sponge spicules, spines and plates of echinoderms, minute shells, polyzoa, 
bivalve entomostraca, microscopic corals, forainiu iters, and calcareous 
concretions. 1 There are also in the bed " lumps of Chalk marl 9 which 
have fewer green grains in them than the matrix in which they are em- 
bedded." From this and other facts Mr. Fisher concludes that these 
phosphate beds seem to have been washed out of a calcareous marl, 
similar in character to the marl which lies above it. In short, he con- 
tinues, the nodule bed is a condensation of the " Chalk marl with glau- 
conite grains." On the other hand, Mr. Sollas thinks that the nodule 
bed has been derived from the destruction of the underlying Gault. The 
Gault contains nodules and fossils, but not nearly so many as the over- 
lying bed. Mr. Fisher urges against this hypothesis that the nodules 
of the Gault are smaller and of a lighter color than those of the nodule 
bed proper. Though the nodules are of a lighter color on the surface, 
the interior is of a color very similar to that of the Greensand nodules. 
Mr. Sollas shows that by the action of hydrochloric acid the Greensand 
nodules assume this same color on the surface, and consequently it is 
possible that the Gault nodules may have been acted on by water, acidu- 
lated by some acid or acid salt, percolating through the bed, and thus 
had their surfaces bleached. 

The phosphatic part of the nodule bed consists of shell casts, fossils, 
and nodules. There are numerous species of Rhabdospongia, Bonneyia, 
Acanthophora, PoJi/cantJia, Retis, and Hylospongia, besides many other 
Cretaceous forms. The nodules and casts are of a black or dark-brown 
color and have a very variable specific gravity and hardness. 

Many of them are worn, broken, and rounded, showing them to be 
clearly derivative masses, while others are perfect in shape and show 
no signs of having been removed from their original bed. 3 The deriv- 
ative fossils and nodules are covered with Plicatidce, and the smooth, 
broken surfaces of many of them, which are coated in this way, show, 
as Mr. Fisher thinks, that they must have been phosphatized before 
being deposited in their present bed, and he thinks that the phos- 
phate was concentrated from a carbonic acid solution by animal mat- 
ter. Besides the shell casts and fossils, there are two distinct vari- 
eties of nodules proper. The first is a reddish-brown and utterly 
shapeless variety. It is very soft when freshly dug, never becoming 
harder than ordinary chalk. 4 It has a very light specific gravity and 
is invariably rich in phosphoric acid. 5 A second variety is much more 
plentiful than the last. It consists of a dark-brown mass of a very 
variable shape. It is hard and heavy. It varies from pieces of micro- 

1 W. J. Sollas : Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc. London, vol. 2d, 1872, p. 398. 
2 0. Fisher: ibid., vol. 29, 1873, p. 53. 
3 0. Fisher: ibid. 

4 Paine and Way : Jour. Royal Agric. Soc, 1848. 

5 See analyses. 

(561) 



88 DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME. [bull. 46. 

scopic smallness to masses weighing four pounds. It occurs adhering 
to the surfaces of Si/phonce, corals, and shells, and appears to have once 
been in a plastic state. This substance has been called by Dr. G-. A* 
Mantell x u molluskite," and he considers it the remains of the soft parts 
of mollusks. In describing it he says : 

This substance is of a dark-brown or black color, and occurs either in shapeless 
masses, which are irregularly distributed among the shells and other organic remains, 
in sandstone, limestone, etc., or as casts of shells, or occupying their cavities. * ** * 
Upon analysis this substance is found to contain a large proportion of animal carbon. 
The rocks of firestbne at Southbourne, on the Sussex coast, are mottled with brown 
molluskite and hard amorphous concretious, consisting of carbon aud phosphate of 
lime, mixed with sand and other extraneous matter. Casts of shells of the genera 
Venus and Area, etc., entirely composed of the same kind of materials, are also 
abundant in those rocks. * * * The gelatinous bodies of the Trigonice, Ostrece, 
llostellarice, Terebratulce, etc., detached from their shells, may have been intermingled 
with the drifted wood in a sand-bank ; while in some instances the animal matter 
would remain in the shells, be converted into molluskite, and retain the form of the 
original. 

Both Mr. Fisher 2 and Mr. Sollas. 2 who have spent considerable time 
in studying the nodule bed of the Upper Greensand, concur in the 
belief that the nodules are not of either concretionary or coprolitic ori- 
gin, but are composed of phosphatized animal matter. In this belief 
they agree with the theory of Dr. Mantell in its most important point. 

Many of the nodules are traversed by shrinkage cracks and wrinkles 
and have a peculiar granulated surface like that of leather. Mr. O. 
Fisher says : 

On the whole a microscopical examination of these bodies rather recalls me, so far, 
to my original opinion that they were sponges, while at the same time it must be 
admitted that in their external appearance they much resemble Alcifonaria. 

It is often found that the nodules are richer in their exterior part than 
in the interior. Thus Professor Way found the following results in an- 
alyzing different parts of a spongoid body : 3 

F ter'or $ 32.27 per cent, phosphate of lime. 

"" ( 61.71 per cent, carbonate of lime. 

Intermediate .....\ 13 ' 87 per cent ' P h <»P*iate of lime. 

( 67.14 per cent, carbonate of lime 

T , . $ 10.26 per cent, phosphate of lime. 

" "( 67.17 per cent, carbonate' of lime. 

Such results have been found to hold true with many other phosphates 
and show, beyond a doubt, that the phosphatization went on from the 
outside towards the interior. As regards the internal structure of 
some of these nodules, Mr. Sollas says : 4 

Thin sections examined under the microscope vary from colorless to yellowish 
brown when transparent, but sometimes they are almost, opaque from included earthy 

1 Medals of Creation, vol. 1, p. 432. 

2 Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc, vol. 29, London,. 1873. 

3 Jour. Eoy. Agric. Soc, 1848. 

4 Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc, vol.29, London, 1873. 

(562) 



i'EKROSE-I PHOSPHATES OP ENGLAND. 8 ( J 

matter. Granular patches of a deep-red color are sometimes scattered throughout 
the lighter-colored portions. Spicules occur in many sections, presenting some of 
the most characteristic forms of spouge-spicules; as, for example, hexaradiate, triradi- 
atc, hamate, sinuate, and connecting forms. These spicules are frequently grouped 
together in a manner which seems to indicate that they cannot have been washed in 
from the seahed during fossili/.ation. Globular bodies J,,, inch in diamoter are nu- 
merous ; they seem to he gemmules. Polyc'ist'ina and Xanthidia occur in some sections. 
With polarized light the sections appear distinctly cryptocrystalline, presenting an 
appearance very nearly resembling that of chalk flints when examined in the same 
way. A very curious phenomenon may he alluded to here. A number of small circles 
may be seen in some sections, each of which is marked by a black cross, the arms of 
which radiate from the center to the circumference. On turning the analyzer the cross 
revolves and. when the analyzer has been turned round 90°, is replaced by a comple- 
mentarily illuminated cross. The explanation of these appearances seems to be as 
follows: Small Globigcruia shells and other similar spaces occur in the nodules, into 
which the crystalline apatite, which was diffused throughout the fossil, has pene- 
trated and crystallized inwards from their walls to their centers, thus forming a 
radiating mass of crystals. It is well known that crystals arranged in this way will 
produce the phenomena described. 

Mr. Sollas 1 thinks that many of the nodules of the Upper Greensand 
are phosphatized sponges. Others he considers to be "phosphatized 
animal matter decomposed so far as to have lost all traces of its orig- 
inal structure before mineralization." He found fish scales and bones 
in manj* of these nodules, and therefore concludes that the animal mat- 
ter was sometimes derived from small fish. He does not seem to take 
into consideration that the scales and bones may have been buried in 
a matrix of calcareous matter, and that this substance, whether it was 
marl or limestone, may have been phosphatized, thus forming phos- 
phatic masses, which, of course, would contain the same fossils as the 
original calcareous substance from which they were formed. 

The phosphate bed of the Upper Greensand varies considerably, not 
only in the quantity of phosphatic nodules, but also in the chemical 
composition of the individual nodules. It is often found that two places 
may be equally rich in the quantity of nodules, while the content of 
phosphoric acid in them may be widely different. 

All through the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Wilts, and Devon the 
nodules are very much more siliceous and less abundant than the nod- 
ules of Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire. 2 Besides the variability in 
the phosphatic richness of the bed, it is also sometimes very variable in 
its mode of occurrence. At times it will cover many square miles con- 
tinuously, while at others it occurs in pockets in the surface of the 
Gault. At other times, according to Mr. Fisher, the bed shows signs 
of contortion, as indicated in Fig. 34. It will be seen, by examining the 
analyses given beyond, that the Greensand matrix of the- phosphatic 
nodules varies also very much in its content of phosphoric acid. The 

1 Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc, vol. 28, 1372, p. 398. 
2 L. Jenyns: Geol. Mag., London, 1866. 

(563) 



90 



DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME. 



{bull. 46. 



amount varies from 2 to 10 per cent, and is probably due to small 
grains of phosphatic matter in it. 




Fig. 34. Distorted bed in Cambridgeshire, England; after O. Fisher : Geological Magazine, London, 
1871. A, shelly soil ; B, clay or clayey gravel; C, white clay; D, phosphate nodule bed ; E, Gault. 

Phosphatic beds of Cretaceous Lower Greensand. — These beds occur be- 
tween the Coral Eag formation at the base and the Gault on the top* 
Their position with regard to these formations will be best seen in Fig. 
35, section at Upware, Cambridgeshire. 1 The Coral Rag is a coralline 
rock varying much in texture, sometimes loose and porous, and at others 
compact and oolitic or arenaceous. Upon this the Kimmeridge Clays 
rest, probably conformably. 2 But at some places, as at Upware, the 
Kimmeridge Clay has been washed off the Coral Eag, which, in such 
cases, often comes into direct contact with the overlying nodule bed. 
Sometimes, as a result of this destruction, there is a deposit of frag- 
ments of Coral Eag and Kimmeridge Clay immediately overlying the 
Coral Eag formation. 




Fig. 35. Section at Upware, Cambridgeshire ; after W. Keeping. A, Gault and phosphatic nodule 
beds; B, clay, sand, and nodule beds; C, Kimmeridge Clay and Coral Rag; D, junction bed. 

Next in an ascending series comes the "lower phosphate bed.'? 
Mr. Keeping considers this as the first definite bed of the Upware 
Neocomian. It consists of a mass, indiscriminately mixed together, 
of phosphatic nodules and shell casts, fossils, pebbles of quartz,, flint, 
Lydian stone, and jasper, besides occasionally a fragment of Coral Eag. 
They are all more or less rounded and worn, though some of them still 
preserve their angular shape. The stones and nodules vary from one- 

^The Fossils and Palseontological Affinities of the Neocomian Deposits of Upware 
and Brickhill, by Walter Keeping, p. 4. 
2 Ibid., p. 3. 

(564) 



fKXRosE.] TltOSPHATES OF ENGLAND. 91 

sixteenth to an inch in diameter and are embedded in a sandy matrix. 
Very often the mass has been cemented together by calcareous mat- 
ter, forming irregular patches of conglomerate. There also occur in 
this bed many delicate and beautiful shells of mollusca, which are not 
at all worn, but preserve their most delicate parts intact. Lamelli- 
branchs and gasteropoda are numerous. 

Above this bed comes a bed of sand composed largely of grains of 
ironstone, quartz, chert, and Lydian stone. Near the overlying and 
underlying beds there are irregular masses of slightly phospliatic sand- 
stone. 

Next above this sand bed comes the " upper phosphate bed." It 
resembles the "lower phosphate bed" in most respects, except that its 
nodules are of a lighter color, and the bed is not cemented by carbon- 
ate of lime, so that it has nowhere been indurated into a conglomerate. 
The siliceous pebbles are the same. 

Overlying this is another bed of sand very similar to the lower 
sand bed. 

Above this comes a clay bed. It has been referred to the Gault, but 
Messrs. Keeping and Bonney think that it is probably the represent- 
ative of a bed of sandy clay belonging to the Lower Greensand. This 
is thought more likely, because phosphatic nodule beds, especially in the 
Cretaceous formation, usually occupy the. lines of chronological breaks. 

The overlying bed is another bed of phosphatic nodules. It con- 
tains many fossils and is very similar to the two nodule beds already 
described. This bed is overlaid by the Gault formation. 




Fig. 36. Section at Sandy, Bedfordshire, England, after J. P. Walker. A, sand ; B, oxide of iron 

C, conglomerate ; D, sand. 

Sometimes the three phosphate beds mentioned above seem to com- 
bine into one (Fig 36). Sometimes, also, the lower bed is not cemented, 
but is loose and sandy, just like the upper beds. The following sections 
will show the variations in the upper ^eocomian deposits : 

Section by TV. Keeping and E. B. Taiuney, at Spinney Abbey. 

Ft. In. 

fl. Brown surface earth 1 6 

I 2. Head of blue clay 9 

1 3. Irregular gravelly zone, the pebbles being mostly flints and coprolites, 

about 3 

(565) 



92 DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OP LIME. [boll. 4ft 

Ft. In. 
f 4. Blue, yellow, arid coarsely mottled plastic clay, with scattered coarse 

quartz and other sand grains anti. numerous sandy concretions * 2 

5. The "silt bed," a chocolate-brown and yellowish sand, passing into a 
sandy clay, which is rather coarse, loose, and like an ordinary shore 
sand. It consists principally of quartz and iron grains. This bed 
passes gradually into bed 4 a a 2 

6. The "upper coprolite seam," a pebble bed of phosphatic nodules, Lyd- 
B<^ ian stone, chert, quartz, and other pebbles as big as beans packed in 

loose, iron-colored sand. Some irony concretions occur in its upper 
part, where it passes into bed 3 >... 2 

7. The "lower coprolite seam," a thin band where the coprolites are 
darker and better than in the upper seam. The sandy matrix is 
hardened almost to a rock by carbonate of lime, which was probably 
derived from the underlying bed (a) » * 3 

f A calcareous grit of coralline age. It is a hard, gritty, bedded lime- 

C{ stone, gray colored, with scattered large oolitic grains; no fossils 

I seen , 

In the last section the nodules are darkest near the base. The phos- 
phatic and siliceous pebbles are in about equal quantities. Silicified 
wood, ferruginous concretions, and hard lumps of clay are numerous. 
The nodules contain more alumina than those of the Upper Greensand 
(Walker). 

The nodules proper of the phosphate beds are of a very variable 
character, in which respect they resemble the nodules of North and 
South Carolina. They vary in size from pieces no larger than a grain 
of sand to masses weighing 3 or 4 pounds. They give off an organic 
smell when rubbed, have a cubic fracture, and vary from yellow to 
chocolate brown in color. Their hardness is 3 to 4. The darker nodules 
are near the bottom of the bed; though, in most cases, the color depends 
on the substance originally phosphatized ( Keeping). The nodules some- 
times are of a perfectly homogeneous and opal-like nature. From this- 
they go through all stages of sandiness, till they are simply nodules of 
phosphatic sandstone. Keeping, in describing them, says: 

There are certain curious branching, interlacing, undulating, or simply straight- 
crossing structures forming little gutters over the surface of the nodule, and canals 
penetrating into its substance. * * * Some of these are mere shrinkage cracks 
and others are the marks of where " episites, " such as Serpulce and Polyzoa, have been 
attached to the inner surface of the original shell ; others again are probably the 
work of boring creatures, especially sponges, but the great variety and many pecul- 
iarities of type that occur and their constant association with phosphatic nodules 
are facts not sufficiently explained by the accumulated work of all the above-men- 
tioned agents. 1 

These nodules are not so rich in phosphate of lime as those of the 
Upper Greensand; they average 40 to 50 per cent. (Volcker), while 
those above the Gault average 50 to 60 per cent., phosphate of lime 
(Way). (See analyses.) 

1 This exactly describes the surface of many of the phosphatic nodules of the Ala- 
bama Cretaceous formation. 

(566) 



~k I PHOSPHATES OF ENGLAND. 93 

Most of the fossils in these Lower Greensand phosphate bods have 
been derived from older formations. The.v are rolled and worn to such 
an extent that it is frequently impossible to identify them. Keeping, 
in speaking of the piles of phosphatio material at the mines, says, 
that u the coprolite heap looks like one mass of Ammonites biplcx, mostly 
worn and fragmentary." The fossils are mostly worn speeies of mol- 
lusca of Oxfordian, Kimmeridgean, or Portlandian speeies of the Upper 
Jurassic (W. Keeping), Many of the derived speeies are of the Neo- 
eomiau age, snch as Ammonites Deshayesii, Ancyloceras sp., Hamites 
sp., Thetis minor Sowerby, Tcrebmtula ovoides Sowerby, and other 
forms. 

Thus it will be seen that these latter fossils have been derived from 
a bed but very little older than the nodule bed, as this latter deposit 
belongs, aeeordiug to J. F. Walker, 1 to the Upper Neoeomian forma- 
tion. Mr. Walker 2 also thinks that a large number of the derived 
fossils came from the underlying Kimmeridge Clay. Many of the 
fossils of the Upware nodule bed are preserved in amorphous or crys- 
talline calcite, others in ferruginous sandstone and phosphate of lime. 
The fossil wood is silicified. According to W. Keeping, all the shell 
casts and fossils that have been mineralized by phosphate or limonite 
are derived fossils and belong mostly to Jurassic species. They are 
easily recognized by their rolled and water-worn condition. Walker 
divides the fossils into (a) indigenous fauna, preserved in oxide of iron, 
and (b) derived fossils, preserved in phosphate of lime. H. G. Seeley, 
on the other hand, thinks that all these fossils are natives of the beds 
in which they are found. 

As regards the mode of phosphatization of these beds, Walker, Keep- 
ing, Teall, and others agree in the theory that it is the result of the 
soaking of calcareous substances in decomposed animal and vegetable 
matter. The Coral Rag fragments in the bed are not at all phosphatized. 
In this particular the deposit resembles those of Alabama and the Car- 
olinas, where shells perfectly free from phosphatic matter are. associated 
with beds of highly phosphatic nodules and fossils. This would seem 
to show that the non-phosphatic substances were deposited after the 
nodules had been phosphatized. But Dr. C. U. Shepard, jr., 3 and W. 
Keeping explain the phenomenon by supposing that the purer forms of 
carbonate of lime are not so susceptible to phosphatization as the im- 
pure forms. 

A very distinctive feature between the Upper and Lower Greensand 
phosphate deposits is the nature of the matrix of the nodules in the 
two formations. As has been already said, the matrix of the Upper 
Greensand is a calcareous Greensand containing 2 to 10 per cent, of 
phosphoric acid, while the matrix of the Lower Greensand nodule beds 

1 Mon. Fossil Trigonne, Pubs. Palaeontographical Soc, vol. 29, 1875, p. 145. 

2 Annals Mag. Nat, Hist., 1866. 

3 South Carolina Phosphates. 

(567) 



94 DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME. [bull. 46. 

is a highly siliceous sand, containing no phosphate, except where the 
nodules have been decomposed. The siliceous pebbles of these lower 
beds are of very general distribution. They are found all along the 
Lower Greensand outcrop in England at Upware, Sutton, Brickhill, 
Farrington, and other places, also in the Neocoinian strata at Schop- 
penstedt, in Brunswick. Many of these pebbles are fossiliferous. 

Mr. Keeping 1 found in some chert pebbles many shells and crinoids 
of the Carboniferous age. In others he found many Jurassic shells 
and echinoderms. He thinks most of the pebbles were derived from 
an ancient barrier axis, which, in the Lower Neocomian period, sepa- 
rated the north from the south Neocomian seas in Europe, but " which 
was in the time of the deposition of the iron sand series suffering rapid 
denudation and destruction." 

The Lower Greensand phosphate beds have numerous outcrops in 
Surrey, Sussex, and Kent. They are, however, thought by W. Keeping 
not to be of the same age as the beds of Cambridge and Bedford, but 
to belong to the Sand gate and Hythe series. 

Tertiary phosphate beds. — The Tertiary phosphate deposits occur in 
or directly under the various Crag formations of Norfolk, Suffolk, and 
Essex, but are richest and most extensive in the county of Suffolk. 
The Crag of Suffolk and Norfolk runs along the coast from about 5 
miles northwest of Krom er, in Norfolk, for a distance of 70 to 80 miles 
to Hard wick, in the northern part of Essex. This belt is from 7 to 22 
miles wide, being widest in the neighborhood of Norwich and narrowest 
at Hales worth, in Suffolk. Beyond these limits the Crag often occurs 
in patches in the county of Essex. The Suffolk and Norfolk Crag does 
not extend all over the above mentioned area, but in many places it is 
covered by alluvium, and in others, especially in Essex and in the south 
of Suffolk, it has been removed by erosion, and the London clay crops 
out. 

It is in the county of Suffolk, and especially in the district between 
the rivers Orwell, Deben, and Aide, and in the country surrounding 
the central mass of Coralline Crag at Sutton, that the Tertiary phos- 
phate beds have been most successfully and profitably worked. The 
Crag formation of this country is composed largely of the Coralline and 
Bed Crags. These formations are each separable into two divisions. 
Prof. J. Prestwich 2 has divided the Coralline Crag into the upper part, 
consisting mostly of remains of Bryozoa, and the lower part, consisting 
of light-colored sand with many shells mixed in with it. The two beds 
together are rarely over 20 feet thick, and rest on the London Clay 
(Eocene). The Bed Crag consists of irregularly stratified sands stained 
with oxide of iron. It comes above the Coralline Crag, though in most 

^he Fossils and Palseontological Affinities of the Neocomian Deposits of Upware 
and Brickhill, 1883. 

Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc. London, vol. 27, 1871. 

(568) 



WRB08K.] PHOSPHATES OF ENGLAND. 95 

cases it rests directly on the Loudon Clay, the Coralline Crag having 
been eroded. The two divisions of the lied Crag are often very difficult 
to distinguish. The only difference is that the lower division usually 
has more shells scattered through it. According to Professor Prestwich, 
the lower division includes all the beds going under the name of red 
and Norwich Crag, while the upper division includes the Chillesford 
sands and clays. Both the Coralline and the Red Crags belong to the 
Upper Pliocene period and are of the same age as the Upper Antwerp 
Crag.' 

The phosphate beds occur at the base of the Coralline and Eed Crags 
and immediately over the London Clay. The bed sometimes thins out, 
and at other times it separates into two seams, divided only by a few 
feet of shelly crag. Occasional^, also, nodules, and seams of nodules, 
are found running through all parts of the Red Crag, though the bed at 
its base is generally the largest and most continuous. The phosphate 
bed consists of a mass of phosphatic nodules and shell casts, siliceous 
pebbles, teeth of cetacea and sharks, and many mammal bones, besides 
occasional fragments of Lower Greensand chert, granite, and chalk 
flints. There are numerous fossils and shells, Cardium edule, Pectun- 
cuius gJyeymeris, Cyprina islandica, and other forms. The bed varies 
from 2 to 18 inches in thickness. The nodules vary considerably in 
both quality and quantity. They are at times of a compact and brittle 
nature, while at others they are tough and siliceous. They average 
about 53 per cent, phosphate of lime and 13 per cent, phosphate of iron. 
The quantity of bones in the beds also varies very much. Sometimes 
there are few and at other times there are great quantities of masto- 
don and rhinoceros teeth and bones of other mammals, similar in 
some respects to those at Eppelsheim in Germany. 2 Large cetacean 
bones and teeth of Charcharodon and Oxyehina are also found. There 
is considerable dispute concerning the origin of the fossils and nodules 
in the phosphate beds of the Crag. That most of them are derived 
masses is shown by their worn and rounded condition. Mr. Jenyns 3 
believes that they have come from the London Clay, and in support of 
this view he calls attention to the similarity of the nodules of the two 
formations. Professor Prestwich 4 thinks that most, if not all, of the 
nodules of the Red Crag came from the Coralline Crag. 

The phosphate deposits of Norfolk are few and scattered. Most of 
the phosphatic material from this county is in the form of mastodon, 
elephant, and rhinoceros bones from the forest and elephant beds. None 
of the Crag phosphate beds have proved so valuable as the Cretaceous 
beds. The nodules are harder and more siliceous, making them more 
difficult to grind and less valuable as a soil stimulant when in the un- 

1 Geol. Mag., London, 1S65. 

2 E. Ray Lankester: ibid. 

3 Ibid., vol. 3, 1866. 

4 Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc. London, vol. 27, 1871, 

(569) 



96 DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME. [bull. 46. 

acidulated state. Besides this, they contain considerable phosphate of 
iron, which causes a superphosphate, made from such nodules, to have 
a sticky consistency and to be very liable to "revert" to an insoluble 
condition. 

The Crag nodules resemble those of the Cretaceous formation, as well 
as some of those of South Carolina, in the fact that the exterior part 
often contains more phosphoric acid than the interior. The following 
analyses by T. J. Herapath 1 illustrate this fact : 

Exterior. Interior. 

1.105 per cent, fluoride of lime. 0.611 per cent, fluoride of lime. 

40.019 per cent, phosphoric acid. 34.015 per cent, phosphoric acid. 

3.996 per cent, fluoride of lime. 1. 961 per cent, fluoride of lime. 

32.043 per cent, phosphoric acid. 21. 046 per cent, phosphoric acid. 

History of the rockphospJiates of England. — The Greensand of England 
has been used as a fertilizer for many generations. As early as 1790 it 
was considered so valuable as a soil stimulant that it was carried in 
carts, sometimes for many miles, all over the counties of Essex and 
Kent. Immense pits, dug in the Greensand marl, concerning which 
there is no historic record and which are now overgrown by large oaks 
and other forest trees, bear witness to the great value placed on this 
marl in by-gone times. A remarkable example is seen at Worldham, 
where there is a large excavation 15 feet deep, from which, once, 
thousands of tons of greensand were removed. But the heaps of phos- 
phatic nodules which are often found near these pits, and which seem 
to have been thrown away as worthless, show that the value of this 
part of the bed was not known. 

It was not until nearly the middle of this century that the agricultural 
value of these nodules was appreciated. Doctors Mantel, Buckland, 
and Fitton, in the early part of the century, pointed out the existence of 
beds of nodules and fossils in the Cretaceous and Tertiary formations 
of England, but simply spoke of them as remarkable beds of fossils and 
nodules. Mr. Berthier, in 1820, also made analyses of similar nodules 
found in France. But their use as a plant food was not recognized 
until Professor Henslow made a study of the Bed Crag nodules at Fe- 
lixtow in 1842, and suggested their use in agriculture before the Brit- 
ish Association in 1845. It was at this time that the name coprolite, or 
fossil dung, was first given to these nodules by Professor Henslow. 
At a later date he saw his mistake in believing the phosphatic masses 
to be of coprolitic origin, and considerably modified his views. It was 
certainly a most unfortunate name, as it has since been shown that real 
fossil dung is a thing of very rare occurrence, and hence the name cop- 
rolite, as applied to beds of nodular phosphates, is misleading. 

Among the most active of the early advocates of English phosphates 

J Jour. Eoyal Agric. Soc, 1851. 

(570) 



pkxbosb.1 PHOSPHATES OF ENGLAND. ( J7 

were J. M. Paine ami J. T. Way, 1 who analyzed many specimens of the 
material and made many practical experiments, which went far to open 
up the phosphate mining industry in England. From that time on the 
use of the English phosphatic nodules became more and more extensive, 
until within the last few years the immense exports of phosphate of 
lime from South Carolina, the West Indies, and other localities have 
thrown so much of that material on the market that the Euglish de- 
posits have become a source of minor importance. 

The principal mining operations are carried on in the counties of 
Cambridge, Bedford, and Suffolk. According to O. Fisher, 2 writing in 
1S73, the miners in Cambridge had to pay $700 per acre for the right to 
dig phosphate and had to return the land to its original level condition 
and resoii it. With all this expense the average yield was only 300 tons 
per acre, which sold at $12 a ton ; while in the South Carolina diggings 
the yield is 300 to 1,500 tons per acre and it sold, at that time, for $9 
a ton. The nodules in England were dug to the depth of 20 feet, but 
it did not pay to go any deeper. 

Dr. C. U. Shepard, jr., informs me that he visited the diggings at 
Whaddon, near Eowsley, in 1875. They were then working at the 
depth of 8 to 18 feet, all the surface beds having been exhausted. 
Sums from $500 to $1,250 per acre were paid for the right to take the 
rock, and the yields per acre were from 150 to 400 tons. The mining 
was done in open trenches. The phosphate rock was washed in circu- 
lar horizontal tubes and was kept moving by rakes worked by steam. 
The capacity was about 5 tons daily, and the cost of washing about 85 
cents a ton. Wages were $6 a week. The nodules were sun-dried and 
then carted to the railroad for 50 cents per ton. 

The production for the three counties of Bedford, Cambridge, and 
Suffolk from 1875 to 1881 is given as follows : 3 Tons 

1875 250,000 

1876 258,000 

1877 69,000 

1878 - 54,000 

1879 34,000 

1880 30,000 

1881 31,500 

Analyses of the amorphous nodular phosphates of England. 
[I. "Molluskite," from the Upper Greensand, by M. Berthier.] 

Phosphate of lime 57.00 

Carbonate of lime 7.00 

Carbonate of Magnesia 2.00 

Silicate of iron and alumina 25.00 

Water and bituminous matter 7.00 

98.00 

1 Jour. Royal Agric. Soc, 1848. 

2 Quart. Jour. Geol. Soo. London, vol. 29, 1873. 

'Mineral Statistics of the United Kingdom, by Robert Hunt, F, R. S, (From D. C, 
Davies, Earthy and Mineral Mining, London, 1884.) 
Bull. 46 7 (571) 



98 DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME. [bull. 46. 

fll. Phosphate from the Upper Greensand. at Dippen Hall (Way). J 

Insoluble siliceous matter 9,84 

Soluble silica . , 2.36 

Phosphoric acid 27.60 

Equal to bone earth phosphate, 59.60. 

Carbonic acid . 6.96 

Lime * 44.56 

Magnesia and loss 0.81 

Oxide of iron and alumina 4.61 

Organic matter , 3.26 

100. 00 

[III. Fossil sponge, a branching Alcyonite from the TJpper Greensand (Way).) 

Insoluble siliceous matter and soluble silica 7.68 

Phosphoric acid . 29. 87 

Equal to bone earth phosphate, 61.30. 

Carbonic acid „ . . 8.77 

Lime 42.29 

Oxide of iron and alumina 6.87 

Water, organic matter, fluorine and loss 4.52 

100. 00 

[IV. Red nodule from the Upper Greensand, at Dippen Hall (Way).] 

Insoluble siliceous matter, with a little clay „. 7.18 

Soluble silica 3.28 

Organic matter 2.49 

Phosphoric acid 27.13 

Equal to bone earth phosphate, 55.96. 

Carbonic acid - 8.77 

Lime 39.85 

Magnesia 0.96 

Oxide of iron and alumina 10. 60 

Fluorine »- Trace 

100. 26 

(V. Phosphatio nodules from the Upper Greensand (Volcker).] 

Moisture and organic matter 4.68 

Lime 43.21 

Magnesia 1. 12 

Oxide of iron 2.46 

Alumina 1. 36 

Phosphoric acid ... . 25.29 

Carbonic acid ... 6. 66 

Sulphuric acid 0.76 

Chloride of sodium .... 0.09 

Potash 0.32 

Soda 0.50 

Insoluble siliceous matter 8. 64 

Fluoride and loss .--.-- 4.96 

100. 05 



(572) 



Penrose.] PIIOSPHATES OF ENGLAND. 99 

[VI. Upper Greensand from Dippen Hall (Way).] 

Coarse Fine 

port. part. 

Insoluble siliceous matter 21.85 26.25 

Soluble silica. 20.18 18.11 

Organic matter 6.25 5.95 

Phosphoric acid 7.80 10.38 

Carbonic acid 10.91 10.34 

Lime 20.58 19.87 

Magnesia 1.59 0.87 

Oxide of iron and alumina 8.18 6.18 

Potash and soda, not estimated 






97. 34 97. 95 

[VII. Upper Greensand from Dippen Hall ("Way).] 

Coarse Fine 

part. part. 

Insoluble siliceous matter 26.83 32.81 

Soluble silica 26.30 29.14 

Organic matter 2.64 3.02 

Phosphoric acid(l) 9.31 6.61 

Carbonic acid 2.35 2.30 

Lime 15.24 9.53 

Magnesia 1.43 1.97 

Oxide of iron and alumina 13. 11 11. 46 

Potash « Not est. 3.10 

Soda Not est. 0.00 

99.94 

(1) Equal to bone earth phosphate 19.22 

(1) Equivalent of earthy bone 13.63 

[VIII. Cambridgeshire glauconite (Professor Liveing).l 

Water 10.80 

Silica 51.09 

Alumina 9.00 

Iron (protoxide) 19.54 

Magnesia 3.37 

Lime 0.30 

Soda 3.56 

Potash 2.47 

100. 13 

[IX. Phosphate nodnles from Lower Greensand ("Way).} 

Insoluble siliceous matter 43. 87 

Soluble silica 3.25 

Organic matter, water, and fluorine 3. 44 

Phosphoric acid 20.80 

Equal to bone earth phosphate, 42.48. 

Carbonate of lime 1.06 

Lime in combination with phosphoric acid 23. 86 

Oxide of iron and alumina 3. 35 

Magnesia and loss 0.37 

100. 00 
(573) 



100 DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME. [bull. 46. 

[X. Phosphatic nodule from Lower Greensand (Way).] 

Silica and sand ., 13. 64 

Sulphate of lime 50.16 

Water in combination 14. 97 

Water (accidental) 7.47 

Phosphoric acid . 4. 80 

Lime, additional B 0.27 

Oxide of iron and alumina 8.82 

100. 13 

From the above analysis it will be seen that most of the phosphoric 
acid must have been in combination with iron and alumina. 

[XI. Large green grains from a Lower Greensand phosphatic conglomerate (Way).] 

Soluble and insoluble siliceous matter * ,.... 18.53 

Water 2.28 

Phosphoric acid , 20.65 

Carbonic acid 4. 01 

Sulphuric acid 5. 13 

Lime 34.61 

Oxide of iron „ „ 7.24 

Alumina 0.98 

Potash 1.79 

Soda ...4 1.87 

97.09 

[XII. Lower Greensand nodules (Volcker).] 

Average samples 

of sittings from Washed rock 

layers at 1 and from another 
2 feet. place. 

Water of combination..... 5.17 5.67 

Phosphoric acid '22.39 *15. 12 

Lime 32.73 26.69 

Magnesia, alumina, and fluorine (by difference) 6. 64 4. 51 

Carbonic acid 3.06 «2. 18 

Oxideof iron ^.OS ,20.61 

Siliceous matter 21.93 25.22 

100.00 100.00 

[XIII. Partial analysis of phosphatic conglomerate, Lower Greensand, from Folkstone, hy Way]. 

Insoluble siliceous matter 30.60 

Phosphoric acid 7 1 . 23 

Potash • 3.31 

Soda — -. - 1-02 

[XIV. Lower Greensand mass, from which the principal fossils and nodules were picked, hy Way.] 

Insoluble siliceous matter - 75.46 

Soluble silica 8.12 

Organic matter 2. 30 

Phosphoric acid 0. 64 

1 Phosphate of lime, 48.51; carbonate of lime, 6.95. 

2 Phosphate of lime, 32.76; carbonate of lime, 4.95. 

(574) 



PENHOSE.] 



TIIOSPHATES OF ENGLAND. 



101 



Carbonic acid 5.64 

Lime 2.01 

Magnesia - 0. 18 

Oxide of iron and alumina 5.59 

99. 94 
Analyses of crag phosphates. 

These average 50 to GO per cent, phosphate of lime (Way). 

[I. Phosphate from the crag at Surrey, by Herapath.] 

Water 3.400 

Organic matter Trace 

Silioa with some silicate of alumina and silica of iron 13.240 

Chloride of sodium Trace 

Sulphate of soda ' Trace 

Carbonate of lime 28.400 

Carbonate of magnesia Trace 

Sulphate of lime 0.736 

Phosphate oflime(tribasic) 21.880 

Phosphate of magnesia Trace 

Perphosphate of irou 24.760 

Phosphate of alumina 6. 998 

Phosphate of manganese Trace 

Fluoride of calcium Some 

Loss 0.586 

100. 000 

[II. Partial analysis of three Suffolk nodules, by Herapath.] 

Earthy and other phosphates 64.056 79.545 67.176 

Fluoride of calcium 0.311 2.554 2.768 

Nitrogen Traces 0.0314 Undet. 

[III. Crag nodules from coast of Suffolk (Herapath).] 

Water with a little organic matter 4.000 3.560 

Salts soluble in water (chloride of lime and sulphate of 

soda) Trace Trace 

Silicic acid, colored red by a little undecomposed silicate 

ofiron 5.792 6.309 

Carbonate of lime 10.280 8.959 

Sulphate of lime Distinct trace 0. 611 

Phosphate of lime (tribasic) 70.920 69.099 

Phosphate of magnesia Trace only Trace 

Perphosphate ofiron 6. 850 8.616 

Phosphate of alumina 1.550 2.026 

Oxide of manganese Trace 0.016 

Fluoride of calcium 0. 608 0. 804 

100. 000 100. 000 

Nitrogen .0254 Undet. 

[IV. Suffolk crag phosphate (Herapath).] 

Water driven off at from 300°-350° F 2.600 

Water and organic matter, expelled at a red heat 9.000 

Chloride of sodium, etc Evident trace 

(575) 



102 DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME. [bull. 46. 

Carbonate of lime . . 35. 500 

Carbonate of magnesia 0. 520 

Sulphate of lime Distinct trace 

Phosphate of lime 15.860 

Ph osphate of magnesia Trace 

Perphosphate of iron .„ 9.200 

Phosphate of alumina 4. 708 

Peroxide of iron : None 

Alumina... 6.212 

Fluoride of calcium f 1.698 

Silicic acid 10.601 

99. 899 
[V. Suffolk phosphate nodules, by Herapath.J 

Water and organic matter 7.200 9.210 

Chloride of sodium and sulphate of sodium Trace Trace 

Carbonate of lime 18.514 5.176 

Carbonate of magnesia 0.855 2.016 

Sulphate of lime Some 1.161 

Phosphate of lime „ 51.018 . 45.815 

Phosphate of magnesia Trace Trace 

Perphosphate of iron... 8.902 12.476 

Phosphate of alumina 2.700 6.387 

Oxide of maganese „ «. , 0. 057 0.267 

Peroxide of iron 

Alumina 

Fluoride of calcium 1 3.161 2.688 

Silicic acid and loss 7.593 14.804 

100. 000 ' 100. 000 

Nitrogen 0.0289 0.0198 

PHOSPHATES OF BELGIUM. 

The phosphate deposits of Belgium belong to the upper part of the 
Cretaceous formation. They are mined almost exclusively in the prov- 
ince of Hainaut, which is the southern part of the kingdom, and bor- 
ders on the French province of Aisne. The following section will show 
the general geologic relations of the phosphate beds of this region : 

Tufeau de Ciply (Ciply Marl) 1 \ Craie de 

Poudingue de Ciply (Ciply Conglomerate) > Maastricht 

Craie Grise ou Brune (Brown or Gray Chalk) > (in part). 
Craie Blanche (White Chalk). 

The top bed, Tufeau de Ciply, is a soft, coarse-grained, calcareous 
rock of a white or light yellow color. It crops out in numerous places 
in the communes of Cuesmes, Hyon, Ciply, and Mesvin, and rests un 
comformably on the underlying beds. In Cuesmes it comes in direct 
contact with the White Chalk (Craie Blanche), but in Ciply and Mesvin 
it is separated from it by a considerable thickness of intervening strata, 

1 In his recent memoir (Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc. London, pp. 325-340, 1886) Mr. Cornet 
expresses the opinion "that the Brown Phosphatic Chalk of Ciply and the Chalk of 
Spiennes should be regarded as forming together one geological whole, a peculiar stage 
of the Belgian Cretaceous series."— N. S. S. 

(576) 



pen-rose.] PHOSPHATES OF BELGIUM. 103 

as shown in the section above. Immediately under the Tnfean comes 
the Ciply Conglomerate. This is a denudation deposit, and is known 
as the Poudingue de Ciply, or Poudingue de la Malogne. 1 In some 
places it immediately overlies the White Chalk, as in the neighborhood 
of Ciply, and at others it is separated from it by a very variable thick- 
ness of Gray or Brown Chalk. The Conglomerate consists of a mass of 
phosphatic nodules, shell casts, and fossils, cemented by a calcareous 
matrix. Sometimes the bed is cemented into a solid mass, and again it 
is loose, and easily worked with pick and shovel. There are numer- 
ous shells and remains of gasteropods, lamellibrauchs, brachiopods, sea- 
urchius, and sponges. There are, also, many teeth and vertebrate bones 
of rish and sharks, all much worn and rounded, showing clearly that 
they have been changed from the bed in which they were originally de- 
posited. Belcmnitclla mucronata and Ostrea vesicularis are among the 
common forms fouud in the bed. 2 The nodules vary from a quarter of an 
inch to 5 inches in diameter, and are generally of a brown color. They 
contain a small quantity of phosphate of lime (25 to 50 per cent.) com- 
pared with that of American and English phosphates, which rarely run 
under 55 per cent, and 50 per cent, of phosphate, respectively. When 
ground and heated in a dark room the Ciply phosphate shows the same 
phosphorescence as the Spanish phosphorite, but in a less degree. The 
nodule bed is very continuous at the base of the Tufeau de Ciply, 3 but 
is generally in such a thin sheet that it does not pay to work it. Oc- 
casionally, however, it has been collected in pockets on the surface 
of the underlying bed, to such an extent that it has been mined with 
profit. Such is the case in Cuesmes and Ciply, where openings have 
been made and large quantities of phosphate taken out. The thickness 
of the bed is very variable, ranging generally from a few inches to 3 
feet. The underlying bed is much worn and eroded on the top. 4 

It is from the bed immediately underlying the Ciply Conglomerate 
that over nine-tenths of the phosphate now mined in Belgium is obtained. 
This bed is known as the Craie Grise or Craie Brune, and comes between 
the Ciply nodule bed and the White Chalk (Craie Blanche). It is of a 
very variable thickness, being in some places entirely eroded, so that the 
Ciply Conglomerate comes in direct contact with the White Chalk. At 
other localities it reaches a very considerable thickness, as near the town 
of Ciply, where it is 30 meters deep. The bed consists of a coarse- 
grained rock, easily crumbled in the fingers, softer at the top than at 
the bottom, and of a gray or brown color. It is formed of a mixture of 
grains of carbonate of lime and small pebbles of phosphate of lime, 
about the size of a pin head. The proportions of the two constituents 

1 Cornet and Briart : Bull. Acad. roy. Belgique, 2d series, vol. 37, 1844, pp. 338, 844. 
*F. L. Cornet: Bull. Soc. g6ologique France, 3d series, vol. 2, 1874, p. 570. 
3 Mr. Melsens: Bull. Acad. roy. Belgique, 2d series, vol. 38, 1874, pp. 25-52. 
4 F. L. Cornet: Bull. Soc. g^ologique France, 3d series, vol. 2, 1874, pp. 567-577. 

(577) 



104 DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OP LIME. ibull.4G. 

are about 25 to 30 per cent, of grains of carbonate of lime, and 70 to 75 
per cent, of phosphatic pebbles. The phosphate grains are equally 
plentiful all through the upper 10 feet of the bed, but below this they 
begin to grow scarcer and scarcer, until the bed gradually runs into the 
White Chalk (Oraie Blanche). In this lower bed no phosphatic nodules 
are found, but in their place there occur beds of brown, siliceous nodules 
lying between the strata. The overlying phosphate bed (Oraie Grise 
or Oraie Brune) is a regularly stratified deposit and dips gently to the 
northwest. 

The phosphate grains were at first thought to be glauconite which 
had been turned brown by weathering. They are of a brown color and 
are very porous. When exposed to the action of heat for some time 
they become crumbly and very easy to grind. This is explained by Mr. 
Mvoit 1 as being caused by tbe decomposition of the animal matter in 
the nodules. The specific gravity is 1.80 to 2.90. The phosphatic bed 
runs in a band of several hundred meters' breadth, through Ouesmes, 
Hyou, Oiply, Mesvin, Kouvelles, and Spiennes, all in the province of 
Hainaut. Estimating the surface of the belt as 180 hectares (444.78 
acres), and supposing that mining can be carried on to a depth of 8 
meters, there would be 14,500,000 cubic meters of workable rock in the 
place. 2 

The upper part of the^ phosphate bed averages 11.50 per cent, of phos- 
phoric acid (see analyses p. 107). A large part (50 to 55 per cent.) is 
composed of carbonate of lime. Numerous methods have been tried to 
separate the phosphate from the matrix. Treating the mass with hydro- 
chloric acid 3 has been tried, in the hope of dissolving out the carbonate 
and leaving the phosphate untouched, but it was found that the acid 
attacked the phosphate at the same time as it did the carbonate. An- 
other method is to expose the mass of nodules and matrix to the air for 
some time in order to allow it to disintegrate. It is then separated from 
a part of the associated carbonate of lime by shaking on a screen, or 
washing in a stream of running water, which carries off the more finely 
divided part of the carbonate. Sometimes the rock is ground, and a 
considerable part of the limestone removed by a fan. This method is, 
however, not as efficient as the washing process, and is only used 
where. water is scarce. By none of these processes has the quality risen 
above 40 to 50 per cent, phosphate of lime. 4 

An examination of the analyses given will show that the freer the 
phosphatic grains are from the calcareous matrix, the nearer they ap- 
proach in composition to the nodules of the Oiply Conglomerate. 5 They 

: Mr. Nivoit: Comptes rendus Acad, sci., Paris, vol. 79, 1874. 

2 Cornet and Briart: Bull. Acad. roy. Belgique, 2d series, vol.37, 1874, p. 841. 

3 A. Petermann : Bull. Acad. Sci. Roy. Belgique, vol. 39, 1875, p. 31. 

4 According to Cornet experiments are now in progress which indicate that the pro- 
portion of phosphate may be raised to 65 per cent. See Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc. 
London, vol. 42, 1886, p. 334.— N. S. S. 

6 Mr. Nivoit: Compt. Rendus Acad, sci., vol. 79, Paris, 1874. 

(578) 



pe>bose.; PHOSPHATES OF BELGIUM. 105 

resemble very much in composition the nodules of the Marnes Crayeuses 
in France. The Poudingue de Ciply and the underlying Craie Grise or 
Craie Bruue combine to make a formation very similar to the phosphate 
conglomerate of New Hanover County, the Poudingue resembling the 
upper part of the New Hanover bed and the Craie Grise or Craie Brune 
resembling the lower part. As will be seen by referring to the descrip- 
tion of the North Carolina bed, the upper part contains much larger 
nodules and is more compact than the lower part, which is of a loose 
texture and has nodules of more uniform composition than the upper 
part. The nodules of the lower part of the New Hanover bed resemble 
those of the Craie Grise or Craie Brune both in decreasing in quantity 
at a depth and in their brown color. The principal differences are that 
the American beds are of Tertiary age, while the Belgium beds belong 
to the Cretaceous period. The nodules are smaller in the Chalk beds 
than in the lower part of the New Hanover beds, while the nodules of 
the Ciply Conglomerate are apt to be larger than those of the upper 
New Hanover bed. Also, the nodules of the upper part of the New 
Hanover beds are of more variable physical and chemical character 
than those of the Ciply Conglomerate. 

The phosphates of the Ciply Conglomerate bed were discovered as 
early as 1858 by Mr. Lehardy de Beaulieu, 1 and were described again in 
1866 by Messrs. Cornet and Briart. 2 But it was not until 1873 when 
Messrs. De Cuyper and Gendebien and Mr. Desailby opened mines, that 
the phosphates of Belgium were worked. 

The phosphates of the Craie Grise were discovered in 1873 by Messrs. 
Cornet and Briart, 3 and since that time they have been almost the only 
beds worked, as they have proved more profitable than the Conglomer- 
ate bed. The mining is generally done in open trenches, though shal- 
low shafts are sometimes sunk, and horizontal galleries are run in from 
the sides for a distance of 10 to 12 meters. 

1 Memoires et Pub. Soc. sci. Hainaut, 2d series, vol. 7, I860. 

2 Ball. Acad. Roy. Belgique, vol. 22, 1866. 

3 Bull. Acad. Roy. Belgique, vol. 37, 1874. 

Note. — As this report is going to press I have received a memoir of Mr. F. L. Cornet, 
published iu the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, August 2, 
1886, pp. 325-340, entitled "On the Upper Cretaceous series and the Phosphatic beds 
in the neighborhood of Mons (Belgium)." This valuable memoir contains some im- 
portant iuformation concerning the geological aud economic history of the region 
about Mons. The most important points are summarized below: 

Production of the Mons district in English tons. 



Year. Tons. 

1877 3,850 

1878 5,630 

1879 7,578 



Year. Tons. 

1381 29,528 

1882 40,043 

1883 58,660 



1880 15,500 1884 85,000 

The most important points set forth in this contribution concern the circumstances 
which have led to the formation of the phosphates of the Mons district. The author 

(579) 



vjkjj. jl kj vjjj iuukjiun.j.j^ kji: j_jj.iu.uj. 



Analyses of the amorphous nodular phosphates of Belgium. 

[I. Ciply Conglomerate nodules (A. Petermann, Bull. Acad. roy. Belgique, vol. 39).] - 

Water and organic matter 6. 39 

Carbonate lime 40. 55 

Phosphate lime (21.82 phosphoric acid) , 47. 63 

Sulphate lime 3. 19 

Silica 0.31 

Magnesia (chlorine and alkalies not determined) 1.93 



[11. Nodules (Nivoit, Assoc, franc, a vane, sci., 1875).] 



100. 00 



Constituents. 



Loss by calcination (1). 

Sand and clay 

Oxide of iron 

Lime 

Phosphoric acid (2) 

Sulphuric acid 

Chlorine , 

Fluorine 



(1) Equal to phosphate of lime. 

(2) Nitrogen a 



From 
Perthes, 
at base of 

Craie 
Blanche. 



25.10 

1.65 

1.20 

50.89 

21.10 



0.14 



100. 



0.25 



From Ciply 
Conglom- 
erate. 



25.55 
1.30 
0.90 
51.60 
20.35 
0.12 
0.25 
0.18 



100. 25 



44.42 
0.35 



Craie Grise 
(whole 

mass, nod- 
ules and 
matrix). 



31.00 

2.10 

1.10 

54.00 

11.13 



99.33 



24.30 



Some of the nitrogen is in the form of ammonia salts. 



clearly shows that these phosphates have been formed by the concentration of phos- 
phatic matter originally disseminated in lime carbonate, the concentration having 
been effected by the action of water containing carbonic acid gas derived from de- 
cayed vegetation. Even in its somewhat concentrated form the proportion of lime 
phosphate is too low and that of lime carbonate too high for the material to be used 
in the manufacture of superphosphates. "But," says the author, "by simple me- 
chanical processes, either by dry or wet methods, a product is obtained which con- 
tains from 40 to 50 per cent, of phosphate. Some experiments now being made lead 
us to hope that a proportion of 65 per cent, may be reached." These experiments in 
concentration have a great interest to us, for the reason that they may show the way 
by which the low-grade phosphates of Alabama and other parts of this country can 
be utilized. 

The diagrams accompanying this report are of interest, as they show the relation 
of the phosphatic deposits to the erosive agents which have served to bring about 
this concentration in superficial beds. — N. S. S. 

(580) 



PENROSE.] 



PHOSPHATES OF NOKTHEKN FRANCE. 

[III. Craie Erune (Nivoit, ibid.)! 



1U< 



Constituents. 



Organic matter 

Lime 

Magnesia 

Alumina and oxide of iron 

Potash and soda. 

Carbonic acid 

Sulphuric acid 

Phosphoric acid 

Silica and sand 

Chlorine and fluorine 



^ . 
an 

SI 

° § 



2.83 

53. 24 

0.12 

1.01 

0.19 

28.10 

0.89 

11.66 

1.96 

Trace 

100. 00 



4.40 
52.00 
Trace 

1.29 

0.28 
24.32 

0.92 
15.19 

1.60 
Trace 

100. 00 



[TV. Craie Brune (Petermann, Bull. Acad. Sci. roy. Belgique, vol. 39, p. 34).] 

Phosphoric acid. 

(a) Mass poor in phosphate grains.. - 10. GO 

( b) Mass poor in phosphate grains 9. 27 

(c) Mass rich in phosphate grains 13.90 

{d) Incoherent fragments 10.87 

(e) Incoherent fragments 11.62 

(/) Incoherent fragments 10.87 

L V. Craie grise ou brune (Mvoit, Assoc, francaise avanc. sci., 1875).] 

Loss by calcination 31.00 

Sand and clay 2. 10 

Phosphoric acid ... 11. 13 

Lime '. 54.00 

Oxide of iron 1.10 

Loss and undetermined matter 0.67 

100. 00 

PHOSPHATES OP NORTHERN FRANCE. 

The phosphates of northern France occur mostly in the provinces of 
Ardennes and Meuse, though they are also found in smaller quantities 
in other northern provinces. They are in the Cretaceous, and, like 
the phosphates of the English Cretaceous, appear both at the summit 
and base of the Gault (Gault Argileux). But there is also a third bed, 
which is not found in England, and which occurs immediately under 
the Craie Blanche, a calcareous bed corresponding to the Upper Chalk 
of England. The following section will show the relative positions of 
these beds, in descending order : 

(1) Craie Blanche (" Upper Chalk"). 

(2) Marnes Crayeuses (" Chalk Marl"). 

(581) 



(3) Sables Glauconieux (Chloritic Marl of England). 

(4) Gaize (Upper Greensand of England). 

(5) Gault Argileux (Ganlt of England). 

(6) Sable "Vert (Lower Greensand). 

The above section can be seen in many places in the western part of 
the provinces of Ardennes and Meuse. 

The nodule beds in the Upper and Lower Greensand resemble, in 
many respects, the corresponding beds in England. The Lower Green- 
sand has a very variable thickness, sometimes running out almost 
entirely, and at others attaining a depth of 50 feet. It is at the base 
of this mass of sandy clay, colored sometimes by grains of glauco- 
nite, that the Lower Greensand phosphate bed occurs. 1 The nodules 
are rounded, worn, and mixed with many fossils and shell casts. They 
vary from the size of a nut to that of a man's fist. They are of a brown 
color, and are generally of a lighter hue on the surface than in the cen- 
ter. Sometimes the nodules occur loose in the sand and at others, as at 
Clermont and Yarennes, they are cemented into a conglomerate. There 
are in the bed numerous shark teeth, shells, remains of crustaceans, and 
other fossils. The nodules often contain grains of quartz and greensand, 
veins or crystals of pyrite, gypsum, and sometimes of galena. There 
are also often associated with them concretions of pyrite, crystals of 
gypsum, and balls of ferruginous clay. 

The French nodules resemble the English in being of a variable con- 
sisteucy, sometimes being very compact and glassy in appearance, and 
at others being so siliceous that they often, as at Beurey. look like 
grains of sand cemented by a little phosphate. It has already been 
shown that the composition of such nodules, at least so far as the rela- 
tive amounts of silica and carbonate of lime are concerned, depends 
largely on the character of the water bottom from which the nodules 
were formed. 

The nodule bed of the French Lower Greensand is very continuous 
and rarely runs out, 1 though it varies considerably in thickness, rang- 
ing from two to nine inches, and averaging about seven inches. 2 There 
are also nodules, more or less phosphatic, scattered through the overly- 
ing Lower Greensand, as well as through the Gault, but they are not in 
sufficient quantities to be of any commercial importance. The nodules 
and shell casts of the Gault are much more homogeneous and compact 
in their composition than those of the Lower Greensand. 3 

The next phosphate bed, in an ascending series, comes in the Upper 

x Mr. Nivoit: Assoc, franc, avanc. sci., 1875. 

2 The nodules contain 8.80 to 50.54 per cent, phosphate of lime and average 39 per 
cent. 

3 It will be seen that there is only one regular bed of nodules in the French Lower 
Greensand, while in the English formation of the same horizon there are three beds ; 
which, however, often run into each other and form one stratum. 

(582) 



Penrose.] PHOSPHATES OF NORTHERN FRANCE. 109 

Greensand, or "Gaize," which is a lenticular deposit lying between the 
Gault beneath and the Sables Glaucouieux above. It reaches its max- 
imum thickness of 105 meters near the town of d' An try. It runs out 
iu the north at d'Attigny and in the south near Nettancourt. It is a 
more or less clayey and siliceous deposit, often containing a large amount 
of silica in a semi-gelatinous form. The phosphate bed lies about 50 
feet from the base of this deposit, and is irregular and undulating. It 
is of variable thickness, ranging from two to twelve inches and averag- 
ing about five inches. 1 The nodules average 55 per cent, phosphate of 
lime and are of the same general character all through the bed. Their 
surface is black or dark green, and is richer in phosphate than the 
interior, which is often simply a mass resembling in every respect the 
Gaize formation surrounding the nodules. Iu this respect these resem- 
ble some of the English phosphates, which are often found to contain 
50 per cent, of phosphate on the exterior part, while towards the 
interior the quantity of phosphoric acid grows less and less till, in 
the center of the nodule, there is a mass of marly sand or sandy marl. 
The fossils are very numerous and are all much rolled and worn. In 
the Sables Glauconieux, w^hich overlie this bed, there are found very 
similar nodules. They do not, however, occur in a regular stratum, but 
are scattered through the formation. 

The last bed of phosphate, in an ascending series, which is found in 
the Ardennes and Meuse Cretaceous, lies at the base of the Craie 
Blanche (Upper Chalk), and on top of the Marnes Crayeuses (Chalk 
Marl). These nodules differ considerably from the underlying phos- 
phates. They are of a white or gray color, homogeneous in composition, 
and consist almost entirely of carbonate and phosphate of lime. The 
bed is of very little commercial importance, as it is thin, irregular, and 
apt to run out. • 

All these French Cretaceous phosphates are very soft and porous, 
and can absorb a large amount of water. They easily disintegrate on 
exposure to air, and are readily ground to an impalpable powder. In 
fact, those of the Marnes Crayeuses are so soft that they go to pieces 
while being washed, and are, therefore, not much used. The French 
differ from the Belgium nodules in having more siliceous matter and less 
carbonate of lime. 2 

The nodules are dug in trenches or in shafts, from which galleries 
thirty to forty feet long are run. They are washed by throwing them on 
a screen over which a stream of water is running, thus reducing the mass 
to from one-half to one-third of its original weight. When water is 
scarce they are allowed to lie exposed to the air until dry, and then 
shaken on a screen. Thus cleaned they retain 10 to 15 per cent, of their 
original matrix. They are then broken and ground. 

1 Xivoit: Assoc, franc, avanc. sci., 1875. 

2 Mr. Nivoit thinks that the nodules were formed by a phosphatic solution coming 
in contact with carbonate of lime either already deposited or being deposited. 

(583) 



110 



DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME. 



[BULL. 46. 



Tbe principal phosphate mining districts are the canton Grand Prd, in 
Ardennes, and the cantons Clermont, Lonppy-le-Chateau, and Villotte, 
in Meuse. The nodules of the Lower Greensand have been more ex- 
tensively mined than the other beds, having been worked in seventy 
communes; while the Upper Greensand nodules are worked in twelve, 
and the Marnes Orayeuses in only one commune (at Sainte Marie, near 
Vauziers). The nodules at the base of the Oraie Blanche have not been 
profitably worked in either Ardennes or Meuse. 

The production of phosphate of lime from the north of France in 1875 
was 66,000 tons, of which 41,000 came from Meuse and 25,000 from 
Ardennes, and 1,500 workmen were employed in washing and mining. 

Following is a table 1 showing the cost Of mining and shipping one 
cubic meter of nodules from the Lower Greensand, allowing 1,500 
kilograms to the cubic meter. Also a table showing the expense of 
treating in the same way one cubic meter of Upper Greensand nodules, 
allowing in this case a weight of 1,600 kilograms to the cubic meter. 

Cost of mining and shipping phosphates of northern France. 



Items of expense. 



Cost for righ t to dig 

Extraction 

Transportation to washers and from them to mill 

Washing j 

Grinding and putting in bags 

Shipping (expedition) 

Extra costs (traisgeneraux) 

Total for a cubic meter 

Total for a ton 



h 

<D 

<B 00 
O 


a 

<s 

<B 

<D oo 
P< 
ft 
J? 


Francs. 


Francs. 


4.00 


10.00 


15.75 


31.00 


4.00 


4.00 


2.50 


5.00 


9.00 


10. 40 


1.75 


2.50 


5.00 


5.00 


42.00 


67.90 


28.00 


42.45 



Analyses of amorphous nodular roclc phosphates of northern France. 
[I. Grand Pr6 nodules, Upper Greensand, by Nivoit.] 

Loss by calcination - - - 

Clay, sand, and greensand 

Phosphoric acid 

Lime 

Oxide of iron * 



8 
42 
20 
27 

3 



[II. Nodules from base of Craie Blanche by Nivoit.] 

Loss by calcination 25. 10 

Clay and sand »- 1.65 

Phosphoric acid -- ---- 21.10 

Chlorine. 0.14 

Lime 50.89 

Oxide of iron - 1. 20 



100. 08 



^ivoit: Assoc, franc, avanc. sci., 
(584) 



1875. 



Penrose.] PHOSPHATES OF CENTRAL FRANCE. Ill 

[III. Similar nodules, analyzed at the ficole des Mines, Paris.] 

Silica 4.80 

Alumina and oxide of iron 3. 20 

Carbonate of lime 45.82 

Phosphate of lime 40.13 



100. 00 



[IV. Sables Verts nodules, by Nivoit (Assoc, franc, avanc. sci., 1875).] 



Loss by calcination 

Sand and clay 

Phosphoric acid 

Sulphuric acid 

Oxide of iron 

Lime 

Magnesia 

Loss and matter not determined. 



Total 



I. From 

Islettes. 



15.00 
27.98 
18.72 



4.30 
21.00 
2.10 
0.90 

100. 00 



II. From 
Louppy le 
Chateau. 



23.80 
22.03 

2.12 

11.30 

29.33 

Trace. 

1.82 



100. 00 



III. From 

d'Ander- 

nay. 



10.50 
31.03 
18.78 

0.89 

15. 65 

20. 80 

Trace. 

2.35 



100. 00 



IV. From 
Beurey. 



8.00 
39.80 
16.30 

0.92 
10.60 
22.00 

0.89 

1.49 



100. 00 



[V. Gaize nodules from Grand Pre, by Nivoit.] 

Loss by calcination 7.20 

Sand and clay 13.50 

Phosphoric acid 31.00 

Sulphuric acid 1.00 

Oxide of iron 7.50 



Lime 



38. 50 



Loss and matter not determined 1.30 

Total 100.00 

[VI. Nodules from the Marnes Crayeuses, Sainte-Marie, by Nitfoit.] 

Loss by calcination 16.20 

Sand and clay 26.30 

Phosphoric acid 18.00 

Oxide of iron 12.15 

Lime 27.35 

Total 100.00 

PHOSPHATES OF CENTRAL FRANCE. 



The phosphates of the center of France, in the department of Cdte* 
d'Or, and in the southeast, near the source of the Ehone, around Belle- 
garde, are of the Lower Gault and Lower Greensand formations. They 
differ in no material way from the corresponding beds in Ardennes and 
Meuse. The same formations are worked farther south along the 
Khone, at Seyssel, near Grenoble, and elsewhere. In Isere and Drome 
there is a bed not represented in the north ; it is a thin, glauconitic 
stratum, lying between the Valenginien and the Marnes d'Hauterive. It 
contains Belemnites dilatatus and Belemnites pestilliformis. The same 

(585) 



11Z DEPOSITS OF PHOSPHATE OF LIME. [bull. 46. 

bed also crops out near Castellane and Nice. It is of very little com- 
mercial importance. 

The phosphate bed of Cote-d'Or consists of a bed of yellow sand of 
fine texture, mixed with shells, fossils, and phosphatic nodules, which 
often form a separate bed in the sand. The bed immediately underlies 
the gray and red clays of the Gault. 

PHOSPHATES OP RUSSIA. 

The principal phosphate deposits in Russia are found in the Creta- 
ceous formation, though deposits of very limited extent have also been 
found in the Tertiary, Jurassic, and Silurian. The Cretaceous phos- 
phates are developed here on a larger and more continuous scale than 
those of any other part of Europe or those of America. The main de- 
posit lies between the Volga and the Dnieper Rivers, and the area 
covered has been estimated by Yermoloff at 20,000,000 hectares (about 
50,000,000 acres). It begins in the government of Smolensk and ex- 
tends almost uninterruptedly in a southeasterly direction to beyond 
Woronesch. This area is about 370 miles long by 60 to 125 wide. South 
of this belt the phosphate bed is lost under the overlying beds, but it 
reappears again on the southern boundary of the Cretaceous basin. 
North of Woronesch the bed has been destroyed by erosion, but it is 
found again 125 miles northwest, in the neighborhood of the villages of 
Tambof and Spask and Simbirsk. Besides these principal localities, 
the phosphate bed is found in several other places between the Baltic, 
Caspian, and Black Seas. Mr. Yermoloff, 1 in speaking of the great ex- 
tent of the Russian phosphates, says : 

Nous ne croyons pas exagerer en affirmant que la Russie centrale repose sur du phos- 
phate de chaux, qu'elle pourrait en paver la moitie" de PEurope, taut lea couches 
qu'elle renferme sont indpuisables de richesses. 

The Cretaceous series in central European Russia forms a basin, only 
the northern boundary of which has as yet been thoroughly explored. 
The phosphate beds are found at two different horizons in this formation. 
The first is at the base of the White Chalk or Craie Blanche, and cor- 
responds to the White Chalk bed of Ardennes and Meuse. The second 
is at the base of the Greensand (Cenomanian, or Gres Yerts) and is 
mixed with glauconite and sand. It corresponds to the beds of the same 
horizon in central and northern France. The deposit at the base of the 
Chalk is the most important, and the one most often seen. The phos- 
phatic material occurs in the form of shell-casts, nodules, and fossils, 
mixed together in a bed of gray or yellow sand, and is commonly known 
as "ssamorod" (native stone). The nodules are of a black-brown or 
gray color, and are often cemented together, forming a solid mass, which 
is used as a building and paving stone. The phosphate often occurs in 
several different beds, separated only by a thin layer of calcareous or 

'Alex. Yermoloff: Jour, agric. pratique, 1872. 
( 586 ) 



U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 



BULLETIN NO. 46 PL. Ill 




—A 



EUROPEAN RUSSIA 

SHOWING THE PHOSPHATE BEDS 

PHOSPHATE BEDS 

PROBABLE EXTENSION OF BEDS IS 



pbnrosb.] PHOSPHATES OF RUSSIA. 113 

siliceous matter. There are usually from one to three of these separate 
beds and sometimes as many as seven. Their thickness varies from 
to 20 inches. 

The following sections by Dr. C. U. Shepard, jr., will show the posi- 
tion of the phosphate beds : 

Section 1. In the township of Briansk, government of Orel, on the hanks of the 
Desna, the ssamorod occurs in large flat pieces, 3 to 4 feet square and 10 inches 
thick. 

The order of occurrence is as follows : 

(1) Argillaceous marl. 

(2) White chalk. 

(3) Siliceous marl, with thin layers of chalk and small nodules of phosphate of lime 
1| feet thick. 

(4) Ssamorod occurring (as above described) in flat slabs. 

(5) White sand 2 feet thick. 

(6) Second deposit of ssamorod, in nodules; 8 inches thick. 

(7) Brown sand over 5 feet thick. 

The upper deposit of phosphate slabs consists of hard brown nodules, cemented to- 
gether by siliceous and calcareous matter. The lower layers are dark green and soft 
when first dug. 

Section 2. The same slabs also occur in the neighborhood of Kursk and towards 
Orel. At Dmitrovsk the occurrence is as follows : 

(1) Red clay, 7 feet thick. 

(2) White, calcareous marl, containing many small, phosphatic nodules, 4 feet thick. 

(3) Very small nodules of pbospbate cemented by calcareous matter, 14 inches thick. 

(4) Thin layer of brown quartz sand with small nodules. 

(5) Phosphatic slabs, 10 inches thick. 

These slabs are not flat on the upper side, but irregular and kidney-formed. The 
size of the slabs varies considerably ; some are as large as 3 feet long by 2 wide. 
Section 3. The occurrence at Jablovsk is as follows: 

(1) Soil and earth. 

(2) Marl, a few feet in thickness. 

(3) Chalk, a few feet in thickness. 

(4) Siliceous marl, with fine grains and pebbles of phosphate, 1 to 2 feet thick. 

(5) Sand a few inches thick. 

(6) Phosphate rock. 

Here the rock comes to sight on the sides of water-worn gullies in the rolling 
country. 1 

The phosphate stratum underlies an immense extent of country, but 
it is often at such an inaccessible depth, that most of it is of but little 
practical value, and it can only be profitably mined where it crops out in 
the ravines. Besides their inaccessibility, the nodules are of poor 
quality, varying, as they do, in their content of phosphoric acid from 
12 to 35 per cent., and averaging only 20 per cent. 2 The nodules are 
very siliceous, the grains of sand being plainly visible in them. In this 
respect they very much resemble the North Carolina Tertiary phos- 
phates. 

l Br. C. U. Shepard, jr., MSS. 
2 Alex. Yermoloff, Jour, agric. pratique vol. 1, 1872. 
Bull. 46 8 (587) 



When the nodules are cemented together in slabs, the masses are 
generally 1 to 2 feet square and 8 to 12 inches thick. Their upper sur- 
face is smooth, shiny, and mammillated ; the lower one, which is irregu- 
lar and uneven, shows plainly that the slabs are composed of nodules 
held together by a siliceous and calcareous cement. 

According to Yermoloff the beds of Smolensk, Orel, Kursk, and Wo- 
ronesch contain not less than 6,000 tons^per acre, while those of Tam- 
bov, which are said to be the richest in Russia, contain 20,000 to 30,000 
tons per acre. 

As regards the origin of these phosphates, Count Keyserling thinks 
that they were formed by carbonated waters dissolving the phosphate of 
lime of the bones and other phosphatic matter of dead animals and re- 
depositing it in a bed of siliceous and calcareous marl. 

The existence of ssamorod in central Russia has been known ever 
since the early part of this century, but its value was not appreciated. 
In the geological survey of Russia, by Sir R. Murchison, the phosphate 
rock is simply spoken of as u a shelly agglomerate and concretionary 
iron-stone," and several deposits of it are spoken of as " ferruginous, 
siliceous, and concretionary banks." The discovery that ssamorod is 
a phosphatic rock is due to Professor Chodneff, of St. Petersburg, in 
1845. Count A. Keyserling and Professor Claus, of Dorpat, first made 
known the existence of phosphate in the departments of Kursk and 
Woronesch a few years later. In 186G, Professor Engelhardt, in his 
geological survey of Russia, afforded valuable information concerning 
the extent, value, and accessibility of the phosphatic beds. 

Several factories have been started to make use of these deposits, but 
generally with little success. Large works were started at Ukolowa, 
Riga, and in Kursk, but were soon closed. The phosphate is of too 
low grade to pay for the expense of mining it. 

Besides the beds already described, phosphatic deposits of much more 
limited extent have been found elsewhere in Russia. Thus Professor 
Schwackhofer, 1 of Vienna, has discovered a deposit of phosphatic nod- 
ules in the Silurian schists of Poland, on the Dniester. The average 
of twenty-five analyses gave 74.23 per cent, bone phosphate, which 
is much higher than the average of Russian Cretaceous phosphates. 
The amount of phosphatic material in the bed is, however, very limited, 
and consequently it is of no commercial importance. A phosphatic 
limestone containing 12 per cent, of phosphoric acid had also been dis- 
covered in the government of Novgorod. 2 

1 Ueber das Vorkominen und die Bilduiig von Phosphoriten an den Ufern des Dnies- 
ters in Kussisch-Podolien, Galizien und der Bukowina, by Professor Sch.wackb.ofer. 

2 A. Yermoloff, Jour, agric. pratique, vol. 1, 1872. 

(588) 



PENROSE.] 



PHOSPHATES OF RUSSIA. 



115 



Analyses of the amorphous nodular phosphates of Russia. 

[Analyses £iven Dr. C. U. Shepard, jr., by T. Lahusen. of the Imperial School of Mines, St. Peters- 
burg J 

[With the exception mentioned under the head of notes all the samples analyzed were nodular.] 



Locality. 


Govern- 
ment. 


Chemist. 


Bone 

phosphate of 

lime. 


Sand. 


Notes. 


B e 1 s k a 

Roslavi. 

Do 


Smolensk . 
....do 


Engelhardt . .. 

Kostytscheff. . 
Schmidt 

Engelhardt ... 
Latschinoff . . . 

Malyschaff ... 
Morkjraff 

Latschinoff . . . 
Malyschaff . . . 

Latschinoff . . . 

Malyschaff . . . 
....do 

Yermoloff 

....do 

do 


31.15 

60.42 to 63.39 
36.18 

( 35. 25 
\ 39. 26 

33.37 

45.36 
31.92 

62.65 

59.01 

C 28. 92 
I to 30. 89 

36.87 

29. 92 to 40. 47 

36. 18 to 41. 24 

15. 98 to 60. 76 

60.00 

40.32 

58.64 

27.57 


43. 69 to 50. 13 

5.51 to 7.61 
44.57 

39.77 

37.43 

48.25 

28.79 
47.47 

9.15 

11.97 

57.10 
to 53. 70 

44.92 

43. 29 to 50/45 

45. 26 to 35. 50 

13. 03 to 54. 16 

9.50 

41.28 

12.25 

59.70 


Siliceous. 

Argillaceous. 
Siliceous. 

Green and soft. 
Brown and hard. 

Prepared phosphate 
meal. 


Seschti in Eos- 
lavl. 

Briansk 

Do 


— d0 

Orel 

....do 




...do 


Linbachina in 
Briansk. 

Do .... 


....do 

....do 


Gray. 
Black 


Kotovetz in 
Schtyrovosk. 

Kursk 


Kursk 

....do 


Cemented in siliceous 

chalk. 
Upper side of flat cakes. 


Turoff 


Woronesch 
....do 


Lower side. 






Bondary 

Bytschkoff 


Tambov .. 

....do 

....do 




Do 


....do 


....do 




Do 


do 


....do 


Argillaceous. 
Do. 


Do 


.—do 


....do 













[Analysis by Dr. C. U. Shepard, jr., of.phosphate rock ground at the mill at Ukolowa, Central Russia. 1 ! 



Quartz 

Organic matter 

Sulphate of lime 

Boue phosphate of lime ... 

Carbonate of lime 

Fluoride' of lime 

Phosphate of magnesia 

Alumina and oxide of iron 



| By Dr. C. U. Shepard, jr., Jablovsky phosphate rock. 2 ] 



Phosphoric acid 

Equivalent bone phosphate of lime 
Sand and insoluble siliceous matter 



34.05 
0.90 
1.60 
42.05 
12.23 
6.98 
1.30 
1.16 



100.27 



13.35 
29.14 
54.40 



1 Grouud phosphate rock partially freed from saud. 

2 A superphosphate made from 12 parts (by weight) of this phosphate and 9 parts 
of sulphuric acid (specific gravity 1. 50) gave a product which was wet, sticky, and 
acid. 



(589) 



[Analysis of Russian phosphate rock, by Yermoloff.] 

Phosphoric acid 

Liine 

Magnesia ". 

[Russian rock phosphates, by Yermoloff.] 



20. 26 

29.07 

0.00 



5*2 



2.20 
3.19 



Block phosphate from near Kursk, by Claus 

"Nodules from near Spask, by Yermoloff 

Nodules from near Spask, by Yermoloff 

Block of nodules from one of the richest beds of the gov 
ernment of Tambov, by Yermoloff 

Fossil bone from same locality as last, analyzed at Agri 
cultural Institute of St. Petersburg 

Fossil wood from phosphate bednearSpask, byEngelhardt 

Phosphate from government of Orel, analyzed at the 
Agricultural Institute of St. Petersburg 



50.00 

9.50 

59.70 

35.50 

1.45 



7.10 



13.60 
27.48 
12.63 

20.26 

31.76 
35.23 

29.84 



3.45 
3.95 
1.98 



1.-0S 
0.44 



0.85 



3.44 
6.06 



1.39 



21.00 
42.00 
18.54 

29.07 

48.53 
51.90 

47.99 



0.65 
0.40 



1.48 



0.47 



3.47 



0.32 
1.15 



0.89 



[Analysis of Silurian phosphate rock from the Dniester, by Professor Schwackhofer.] 

Phosphate of lime 74. 23 

Sand and insoluble matter 5.61 

Fluoride of lime ^ 6.00 

Oxide of iron 0.50-5.0 



PHOSPHATIC LIMESTONE BEDS. 

Under this heading are included those sedimentary limestones which 
contain considerable quantities of phosphate of lime. Such deposits 
have been found in Kentucky ; and Yermoloff mentions that a lime- 
stone containing 12 per cent, phosphate of lime exists in the govern- 
ment of Novgorod, Eussia. 

Most limestones contain a small per cent, of phosphate, but as yet 
very few have been found which contain large amounts, and none are 
known which have become of commercial importance. 

PHOSPHATIC LIMESTONES OF KENTUCKY. 

Several beds of phosphatic limestone have been discovered by Prof. 
N. S. Shaler in Kentucky, but the one richest in phosphate of lime was 
found in Fayette County. 1 It belongs to the lower part of the Cincin- 
nati group and consists of a thin stratum, never reaching a greater 
thickness than from 6 to 12 inches. It is a " somewhat friable rock of 
a bluish gray color; brownish gray on the weathered surfaces; contain- 
ing many microscopic marine univalve shells. Adheres strongly to the 
tongue." It is much more brittle than the associated limestones, and 
contains 31.815 per cent, of phosphoric acid. It is probable that beds of 

1 Geol. Survey Kentucky, N. S. Shaler, Director, 1878, New Series, vol. 4, p. 65. 

(590) 



PENROSE.] GUANOS. 117 

this kind derived their phosphate of lime from the numerous animals, 
having phosplmtic shells,' which inhabited the Silurian sea. 

Phosphatic limestone beds, like those just described, supply the soil 
of the surrounding country with large quantities of phosphate of lime, 
and it is very likely that the wonderful fertility of some districts in the 
limestone regions of Kentucky and Virginia is due to the decomposition 
of such beds. 

Analysis of Fayette County phosjihatic limestone, by Dr. Peter (Kentucky Geol. Surv., 1878). 

Dried at 212° F. 

Phosphoric acid, lime, magnesia, alumina, irou oxide 85.270 

Carbonate of lime 9. 180 

Carbonate of magnesia 371 

Silica and insoluble silicates 4.780 

Fluoride of calcium, alkalies, organic matter, etc., not estimated .399 



Total 100.000 

GUANOS. 

The class of guanos includes all those deposits which are largely, or 
entirely, composed of the excrement of birds. Such deposits are sub- 
divided into soluble guano and leached guano. The former is composed 
of deposits which have preserved all, or a large part of, their soluble 
ingredients, while the latter includes such as have lost these soluble 
constituents by the action of rain or sea- water, and have been converted 
into a mass, insoluble, or almost insoluble, in water, and varying, in 
consistency, from a loose powder to a hard compact rock. 

The soluble guanos will be treated first, and then the leached guanos 
will be described. 

SOLUBLE GUANO. 

Most of the soluble guano of commerce has come from the coast of 
Peru. It has been used in that country for agricultural purposes from 
very ancient times. Of such value was it esteemed by the' natives that 
the punishment of death was imposed by the early Incas and their 
Spanish successors on any one who was found killing the birds that 
made these precious deposits. Peruvian guano was first recommended 
(1801) to be used in the raw state for agricultural purposes in Europe 
by Humboldt, who brought a specimen from the islands off the coast of 
Peru ; but it was not exported in any considerable quantities until 1842, 
when 182 tons were shipped to England. After that time the use of it in- 
creased very rapidly until 1870-1875, when the best beds were exhausted, 
and the use of acidulated phosphates gradually drove the poorer qual- 
ities almost entirely out of the market. It is still imported to the United 
States and Europe as a source of superphosphate. In the raw state 
very little of it is used compared with the immense quantities of super- 
phosphates now sold. 

(591) 



The following tables will show the imports into Great Britain, Ger- 
many, and France : 

Imports into Great Britain (Stoclchardt). 



Cwt. 

1844 208,502 

1845 568,600 

1846 1,784,060 

1847 1,647,840 

1848 1,428,280 

1849 1,668,760 

1850 2,338,500 

1851 4,860,280 

1852 2,597,780 

1853 2,463,320 

1854 4,470,222 



Cwt. 

1855 6,101,220 

1856 3,830,020 

1857 5,767,240 

1858 7,070,820 

1859 1,682,440 

1860 2,828,700 

1861 : 3,568,460 

1862 2,832,720 

1863 4,671,480 

1872 117,089 

1873 184,921 



Imports into Germany (Meyn). 



Tons. 

1861 25,000 

1862 30,000 

1863 48,785 

1864 50,699 

1865 i 59,940 



Tons. 

1866 55,621 

1867 52.413 

1868 73,922 

1869 85,233 



Imports into France (Meyn). 



Tons. 

1857 52,000 

1858 um 38,000 

1859 33,000 

1860 40,000 

1861 ; 38,000 



Tons. 

1862 46,000 

1863 68,000 

1804 69,000 

1865 47,000 

1866 57,000 



The deposits of guano are found mostly on the islands on the coast of 
Peru and Bolivia. They are also found on the mainland, but these are 
not so large as those on the islands. The deposits consist of the excre- 
ments of flamingoes, divers, penguins, and other sea fowls, mixed with 
the carcasses of these birds, as well as those of seals, sea-lions, and other 
marine animals, which inhabit these seas in vast numbers. The guano 
is generally pulverulent on the surface, but becomes compact at a depth. 
It is in some places over a hundred feet in thickness, and is white to 
brown in color. There often occur in it small lumps containing ammonia 
salts, and others containing large quantities of phosphate of lime or silica. 
Gypsum is also abundant in some of the guano beds. The phosphates in 
the guano occur largely as tricalcic, dicalcic, ammonio-magnesic, and 
ammonic phosphates, so that a large part of it is in a very soluble rorm, 
hence its value as plant food. There is also in the guano a soluble base 
called guanine, with the formula C 5 H 5 K 5 0. It will thus be seen 
that, though some of the ingredients of guano are insoluble, others are 
very soluble, and, for the preservation of such a deposit a very dry 
climate is necessary. The coast of Peru is peculiarly adapted to the 
formation of guano beds, not only on account of the absence of rain, but 

^ie nattirliclieii Phosphate.* 

(592) 



also on account of the large flocks of sea birds which inhabit the isl- 
ands along the coast and feed on the vast schools of fish swarming in 
the surrounding seas. 

The first beds that were mined were on the Chincha Islands, off the 
coast of Peru. The guano of this locality was the richest of all the 
deposits on the South American coast. The islands are small, rarely 
more than three miles in circumference, and the beds were practically 
exhausted as early as 1872. Among the other islands which have been 
worked and stripped of their valuable deposits are those of Macabi and 
Guanape, north of the Chincha Islands, as well as those of Ballestas, 
Lobos, Foca, Pabellon de Pica, Tortuga, Huanillos, and many other 
islands on the same coast. As will be seen from the analyses, the com- 
position of the guano from these localities varies considerably. It de- 
pends on the circumstances under which the deposit was formed, such 
as the amount of rain, the exposure to the spray of the sea-water, and 
other conditions. 

Though the Peruvian coast is the most important locality for guano. 
yet it has been obtained in considerable quantities in other places also. 
It is found near the Cape of Good Hope and northwest of it, at Sal- 
dan ha Bay. It is also found on the island of Ichaboe, as well as at 
Algoa Bay, which is on the southern coast of Africa. The guano from 
these African localities has often been leached by the action of rain and 
sea water, but it is also found containing large quantities of soluble 
salts of ammonia and phosphorus. The island of Ichaboe contained 
200,000 tons of guano, all of which was removed in fifteen months after 
its discovery in 1844:. 

Soluble guano has been found on the Kuria Muria Islands, on the 
coast of Arabia; at Shark's Bay, Australia, and at many other places 
iu small quantities. The variety known as "bat guano" is generally 
found in caves, and consists of the dung of bats, mixed with the bodies 
of their dead, as well as with the remains of rats, mice, etc. Such de- 
posits are of very limited extent. They are found in many places in 
America and Europe. In the United States bat guano is found in In- 
diaua, Kentucky, Alabama, and many other States. Near San Antonio, 
Tex., there are several caves containing large quantities of it. It is 
also found in many places along the coast of the Mediterranean, and 
especially in Italy. 

Analyses of sohible guano. 

[I. Mean of 21 analyses of Macabi Island guano, by Barral.] 

Nitrogen 10.90 

Phosphates 27.60 

Potash 2 to 3 

[II. Analysis of Macabi guano, by Bobierre.J 

Water 30.80 

Bone phosphate 35. 50 

Nitrogen 8.22 

(593) 



[HI. Analysis of Guafiape Island guano, by Dr. C. II. Shepard, jr.] 

Nitrogen 8. 20 to 12.80 

Phosphoric acid 10. 77 to 17. 62 

Sand and siliceous matter 0. 75 to 3. 75 

Water 11. 83 to 29. 96 

[IV. Average of 22 analyses of Guafiape guano, by Barral.] 

Nitrogen 10.95 

Phosphates 28. 00 

Potash 2 to 3 

[V. Analysis of Guafiape guano, by Bobierre.] 

Water , 24.00 

Sand 1.30 

Organic matter and ammoniacal salts (1) 37.00 

Bone phosphate of lime „ 36. 00 

Undetermined matter 1.70 

100. 00 
(1) Nitrogen 7.75 

[VI. Analyses of soluble guanos, by Deh6rain.] 



Organic matter 

Containing nitrogen 

Equivalent in ammonia 
Total phosphates 



Angamos, coast 

of Bolivia. 
White guano. 



70. 21 to 52. 92 
20. 09 to 14. 38 
24 36 to 17. 44 
13. 30 to 20. 95 



Bolivian. 



23.00 
3.38 
4.10 

48.60 



Los Patos. 



32.45 
5.92 

7.18 
34.81 



Island of Elide, 

coast of 

California. 



27. 37 to 34. 50 

1.34 to 6.98 

1.62 to 8.46 

1 28. 00 to 31. 00 



llot de 
Pedro-Bey, 
coast of 

Cuba. 



6.16 
0.28 
0.34 

48.52 



Mexican coast. 



Galapagos, 
Ecuador. 



Falkland 
Islands. 



Organic matter 

Containing nitrogen 

Equivalent in ammonia 
Total phosphates 



13. 05 to 18. 00 
0.21 to 3.45 
0.26 to 4.1y 
8. 00 to 25. 00 



0. 7 

0.85 

60.30 



17. 35 to 28. 68 
0.56 to 2.26 
0.68 to 2.74 

'21.46 10 25.62 



1 Containing sometimes very considerable quantities of phosphates of alumina and the oxide of iron. 

[VII. Analysis of Peruvian guano by Dr. TJre, Am. Jour. Agric, 1845.] 

Uric acid 10.50 

Ammonia 19. 00 

Phosphoric acid 14.00 

Lime and magnesia 16. 00 

Salts of soda and potash 6.00 

Oxalic acid, with carbonic and muriatic acids 13.00 

Water 13.00 

Sand 2.00 

Volatile and organic matters 6.50 



100. 00 



(594) 



[VIII. Analysis of Peruvian guano, by Nesbit, Agricultural Chemistry, London, 1859.] 

Moisture 15.10 

Organic matter, etc. (I) 51.27 

Silica. 2.20 

Phosphate of lime 22.13 

Phosphoric acid 3.23 

Equal to phosphate of lime, 7. 00. 

Alkaline salts, etc 6.07 

100. 00 

(1) Nitrogen 13.54 

(1) Ammonia 16.42 

[IX. Analysis of Ichaboe guano, Am. Jour. Agric, 1845.] 

Ammonia 13. 50 

Humic acid 4.00 

Phosphates 25.00 

Oxalic, etc., acids ' 20.00 

Salts of soda, etc 7.00 

Water and volatile matter 27.50 

Sand 3.00 



100. 00 



[X. Analyses of soluble guanos, by Nesbit, Agricultural Chemistry.] 





Angamos. 


Peru- 
vian. 


Chilian. 


Boliv- 
ian. 


Saldanha 
Bay. 


Shark's 
Bay. 


I. 


II. 




10.90 
67.36 

1.04 
16.10 

4.60 

100. 00 


12.55 

61.07 

5.36 

13.76 

7.26 


9.30 
57.30 

0.75 
23.05 

9.60 


20.46 
18.50 
22.70 
31.00 
7.54 


16.00 
13.16 
3.16 
60.23 

7.45 


17.92 

14.08 
2.80 

59.40 
5.80 


14.47 
7.85 
14.47 
29.54 
33.67 


Organic matter, etc. (1) 

Sand .. 








100. 00 


100. 00 


100. 20 


100. 00 


100. 00 


100. 00 


19.95 
24.19 


18.24 
22.12 


15.54 
18.87 


4.50 
5.47 


2.11 
2.56 


0.63 
0.76 


0.35 
0.47 







[XL Analyses of Peruvian guano and of Ichaboe guano ; from The Cultivator, vol. 1, 1844.] 



Peruvian 
guano. 



Ichaboe 
guano. 



Water and volatile ammonia 

Organic matter and amraoniacal salts 

Chloride and sulphate of soda , 

Insoluble siliceous matter 

Phosphate of lime and little phosphate of magnesia 
Carbonates of lime and magnesia 



(595) 



15.27 

51.44 

5.50 

0.57 

21.11 

6.11 



100. 00 



3.14 
63.52 

5.02 

1.16 
22.20 

4.96 



100. 00 



[XII. Analyses of soluble guano, by Norton, Elemtnts of Scientific Agriculture, I860.] 





Bolivian. 


Peruvian. 


Chilian. 


Ichaboe. 




5 to 7 
56 to 64 
25 to 29 


7 to 10 
56 to 66 
16 to 23 


10 to 13 
50 to 56 
22 to 30 


18 to 26 
36 to 44 
21 to 29 









[XIII. Analyses of soluble guanos, Cameron, Chemistry of Agriculture.] 





Upper 
Peruvian. 


Ichaboe. 


Bird 
Island. 


Cuban. 


Kuria 
Muria. 


! 
Pataga 
nian. 




10.00 
21.68 
(4.50) 
51.50 


20.00 
24. 40 
(6. 00) 
20.40 


15.00 
6.50 


26.00 
4.10 


18.10 

12.41 

(2. 05) 

42.67 

4.19 

4.13 

18.50 


25.00 
18.30 
(2. 00) 
44.00 








37.25 

40.00 

1.15 

0.10 


43.70 
24.10 






14.12 

2.70 


6.20 
29.00 


2.10 
10.60 


Sand, clay, and other useless 


2.10 




100. 00 


100. 00 


100. 00 


100. 00 


100. 00 


100. 00 



[XIV. Analysis of soluble guano from " an island in the Pacific," by R, S. Burn, Year-Book of Agri- 
cultural Facts. J 

Water 4.60 4.60 

Organic matter and ainmoniacal salts 16. 85 10. 38 

Phosphates 71.40 69.1,0 

Carbonate of lime 3.15 7.90 

Alkaline salts ". 3.90 1.07 

Sand 0.10 0.15 

100. 00 100. 00 
Ammonia 1.32 1.26 

[XV. Analysis of bat guano, Report Indiana Geological Survey, 1879, p. 163.] 

Loss at red heat 44. 10 

Organic matter 4.90 

Ammonia 4.25 

Silica 6.13 

Alumina 14. 30 

Ferric oxide 1.20 

Lime 7.95 

Magnesia r 1. 11 

Sulphuric acid k 5. 21 

Carbonic acid .* 3.77 

Phosphoric acid 1.21 

Chlorides of alkalies and loss 5.87 

100. 00 

LEACHED GUANOS. 

The second subdivision of guano deposits is leached guano. It is 
either pulverulent, or in a more or less solidified mass, and consists of 
guano from which all or almost all the soluble constituents have been 

(59G) 



dissolved by the action of rain aud sea water. It is found most plenti- 
fully on some of the small islands in the Pacific Ocean, northeast of 
Australia, and on many of the West India Islands. It is also found in 
some places on the coast of Chili, as on the promontory of Mexillones. 
Here it occurs as a light yellow phosphatic powder, containing lumps 
of the same substance aud averaging 75 to 81 per cent, of bone phos- 
phate of lime. 

Leached guano is found in the Pacific principally on the islands ly- 
ing between longitude 150° to 180° west and latitude 10° N". to 10° S. 
Most of this area was put by Congress under the protection of the 
United States in 1S56. It contains some forty guauo islands. They 
are all small and low, and are built up by the formation of coral reefs. 
Often there is a salt-water lagoon in the center of the island. Among 
the richest localities are Baker, Howlaud, Jarvis, McKean, Maiden, 
Starbuck, and Phoenix Islands. The guano is generally pulverulent 
on the top, aud more or less solidified below. Occasionally the soluble 
portions have been washed into the underlying coral, forming a phos- 
phatic limestone. The following is a section on Baker Island : 

(1) Pulverulent leached guano, yellow. 

(*2) Denser stratum of same substance as (1). 

(3) Coral rock containing gypsum. 

On Jarvis Island a bed of gypsum has been formed by the evapora- 
tion of a central lagoon. Overlying this is a deposit of leached guano, 
from one inch to one foot thick, covered by a phosphatic crust. Under 
this crust the bed contains both basic and neutral phosphate of lime. 
This fact is thought by Dr. C. U. Shepard, jr., to be due to the decom- 
position of the tribasic phosphate by the gypsum. Occasionally con- 
cretionary nodules, composed of interstratified layers of phosphate of 
lime and gypsum, are found. On Maiden Island there is a boggy de- 
posit, which gives offsulphureted hydrogen from the mutual decompo- 
sition of the guano and the gypsum. 

In the West Indies, leached guano has been found on many of the 
coral islands and reefs, all the way from the Bahamas to the coast of 
Venezuela. Among the principal localities are Sombrero, Navassa, 
Turk, St. Martin, Aruba, Curacoa, Orchillas, Arenas, Roncador, Swan, 
and Cat, or Guanahani Islands, the Pedro and Morant Keys, and the 
reefs of Los Monges and Aves in Maracaibo Gulf. The phosphate from 
the different localities varies very much. That from Maracaibo Gulf oc- 
curs in a compact or granular form of a light brown color. Sometimes 
it is distinctly mammillated, and at other times it has a concentric 
structure. It often has a white phosphatic enamel like that which 
covers the basalt of Ascension Island. The deposit contains many fish 
bones, and is rich in phosphate of lime, which sometimes amounts to 
over 85 per cent, of the rock. The Sombrero Island phosphate occurs 
in two forms ; (1) As a granular, porous, and friable mass, in color 
white, pink, green, blue, or yellow; (2) as a dense, massive, and homo- 

(597) 



geneous deposit of a white or yellow color. It contains 75 to 80 per cent, 
of phosphate of lime. Many bones occur, and at times the deposit takes 
the form of a real bone breccia. The principal rock of the island is a 
palagonite tufa, filled with shells and bones. 

The Navassa phosphate is found on an uninhabited island, consisting 
of a terrace encircled by a high plateau. The phosphate is found in 
pockets in the living coral, and in the numerous depressions and hollows 
on the island. It is of a dark brown color, and is composed of a hard 
mass of oolitic grains. It contains 10 to 15 per cent, of alumina and 
oxide of iron (Meyn), and is therefore not very popular as a source of 
superphosphate, as it makes a sticky product. 

The phosphate of Aruba Island is of a hard, massive variety, and is 
white to dark brown in color. Occasionally the underlying coral on this 
island, as well as on many others in both the West Indies and the Pa- 
cific Ocean, has been phosphatized by the infiltration of the soluble 
parts of the original guano deposits. Thus at Aruba large masses of 
coral, containing 70 to 75 per cent, phosphate of lime, are found. 

Several distinct phosphate minerals occur in pockets in the phosphate 
beds in the West Indies. One of them, known as pyrophosphorite, was 
described by Dr. C. U. Shepard, jr., in the American Journal of Science, 
January, 1878. It is snow white, amorphous, opaque, and has a fracture 
like magnesite. It has a hardness of 3 to 3.5, and a specific gravity of 
2.50 to 2.53. It is essentially an ortho pyrophosphate of lime with 
pyrophosphate of magnesia, and has the formula Mg 2 P 2 7 -|-4(Ca3P 2 8 , 
Ca 2 P 2 7 ). 

On the islands of Mona and Moneta, in the West Indies, occur the 
minerals monite and monetite. They were described and named by 
Prof. 0. U. Shepard, sr., in the American Journal of Science, May, 1882. 
The monetite occurs as a crystalline mineral, of a white or brown color, 
in association with monite, which is a white, soft, incoherent mass. 
Monetite is a crystallized dicalcic ortho-phosphate and has the formula 
CaHP0 4 . Monite has the formula Ca 3 P 2 8 +H 2 0. 

Deposits of leached guano have been found on several islands in the 
Gulf of California. The deposit on Eaza Island averaged over 41 per 
cent, of phosphoric acid, which corresponds to over 85 per cent, of phos- 
phate of lime. (See analyses.) The beds in this island have been 
exhausted. 

The deposits of the West Indies supply most of the leached guano 
now sold. Curagoa annually produces 50,000 to 70,000 tons, and Som- 
brero about 10,000. The other islands produce much less. The Pacific 
Ocean islands are, at present, little worked. The difficulty with many 
of the West India deposits is that they contain large quantities of phos- 
phate of iron and alumina, which make them very undesirable as sources 
of superphosphate. On some of the islands there occur beds of almost 
pure phosphate of iron and alumina. 

(598) 



Tabic of analyses of leached guanos. 
[I. Analyses of Baker Island guano (constituents, lumps, crust, coral rock, etc.), by Siegert.] 



Water 

Combustible matter (l) 

Potash 

Soda 

Lime 

Magnesia 

Phosphoric acid 

Sulphuric acid 

Carbonic acid 

Total 

(1) Xitrogen 



<*> 


« 


( 3 ) 


(«) 


( 8 ) 


1.45 

2.57 
0.10 
0.45 

53.78 
0.27 
0.00 
1.40 

39.98 


10.25 
5.11 
0.44 
0.73 

43.83 
0.42 

33.97 
2.07 
3.18 


9.03 
4.02 
0.43 
0. 02 

43.44 
0.60 

33.62 
6.81 
1.43 

100. 00 


0.90 
4.47 
0.46 
1.21 

45.82 
1.89 

38.98 
1.16 
5.11 

100. 00 


8.20 
8.30 
0.62 
1.13 

40.63 
1.75 

37.16 
1.17 
1.04 

100. 00 


100.00 


100. 00 


0.00 


0.00 


0.00 


0.00 


0792 



0) Unchanged coral white rock. 

( 2 ) Yellow-brown crust, often several inches thick, with white interior, of coralline structure. 

( 3 ) Gray-brown balls, soft to pulverulent, often several inches thick; coralline structure feebly 
marked. 

( 4 ) Porcelain-like cakes, smooth or rough, soft, 1 to 4 inches thick, and in parallel plates. 

( 5 ) "Whole guano powdered. 



[II. Analysis of How land Island guano, byDrysdale.] 

Water 7.20 

Combustible matter 14.18 

Phosphates 75.32 

Sulpbate of lime - 1.60 

Carbonate of lime ■ 1.27 

Chloride of alkalies - 0.43 

Sand Trace 



[HI. Analyses of Jarvis Island guano, dried at 105 C] 

Powder. 

Water of combination and combustible matter. 20.80 

Anhydrous sulpbate of lime 30. 00 

Pbospbates of lime and magnesia 43.20 

Siliceous residue 2. 00 

Undetermined ingredients and loss 4. 00 



100. 00 



Lumps. 

18.50 
5.00 

73.00 
1.00 
2.50 



100. 00 100. 00 

[IV. Analyses of Phoenix Island guano, by Eumpler.] 

Water 1.19 2.08 

Combustible matter 2.03 5.22 

Phosphate of lime 76.00 70.70 

Phosphate of magnesia 5. 19 13. 47 

Carbonate of lime 0.68 10,50 

Sulphate of lime 0.34 5.10 

Nitrogen in the combustible matter 0.39 0.77 

(599) 



[V. Analysis of Aves guano, by Volcker.] 

Water 2.39 

Organic matter and water of combination 7. 93 

Lime 39.48 

Magnesia ;.. 1. 17 

Phosphoric acid 41. 34 

Sulphuric acid 4.57 

Insoluble siliceous matter 2. 28 

99.16 
Containing nitrogen 0. 139 

[VI. Analyses of Navassa phosphate.] 

Bret- 
Gilbert. Schneider. 

Water '. 3.01 3.54 

Organic matter and water of combination 7. 17 4. 64 

Lime 40.19 38.35 

Magnesia 1. 72 

Sequioxideof iron ~i 3.40 

Alumina i \ ' 6.50 

Potash 0.34 

Soda 0.32 

Phosphoric acid 33.28 35.60 

Sulphuric acid 0.19 

Chlorine 0.08 

Carbonic acid 2.15 2.58 

Silica 1.34 

Sand 2.53 1.31 

100. 00 99. 91 

[VII. Analysis of Eaza Island phosphate, by Dr. H. Gilbert.l 

Water 1.92 

Neutral phosphate of lime 58. 78 

Bone phosphate of lime 18. 86 

Tribasic phosphate of magnesia 3. 32 

Sulphate of lime 8.26 

Oxide of iron 0. 99 

Silicic acid 3.38 

Organic matter 4. 81 

100. 32 
BONE BEDS. 

These deposits include beds which are composed largely of bones. 1 
They occur principally as cave and lacustrine deposits. 

CAVE DEPOSITS. 

Caverns have always been the places of refuge and the sepulchers i>f 
many kinds of animals, and sometimes bones have collected in them in 
sufficient quantities to form beds many feet thick. Such deposits are 

x The phosphate beds of South Carolina and other similar deposits do not belong 
under this heading, for, though many bones occur in them, they are few compared 
with the accompanying phosphatic nodules. 

(600) 



much larger and more plentiful in Europe than in North America. The 
reason for this seems to be that in this country there were none of the 
carnivora, such as the jackals and hyenas, which have the habit of drag- 
ging their prey to their lairs. Consequently our caverns, notwithstand- 
ing their abundance and the great number of animals wbich have lived 
about them, are generally wanting in the extensive osseous breccias 
which characterize mauy caves in England, France, Germany, Hun- 
gary, Italy, and many other parts of Europe. 

Many of the caves of the Southern States have been much resorted 
to by bats. The excrements of these creatures, together with the bones 
of those that have died there, have iu many cases formed extensive 
beds of phosphatic and nitrogenous matter. 1 During the early part of 
this century, and during the civil war, saltpeter was extensively man- 
ufactured from them, aud some of them have also been worked as a 
source of phosphate of lime. 

LACUSTRINE DEPOSITS. 

These deposits occur generally about the swampy margins of salt 
licks, as at Big Bone Lick in Kentucky 2 , and in the ancient lake de- 
posits west of the Mississippi Kiver, as in the Mauvaises Terres of Ne- 
braska. Similar beds are also found in many parts of Europe. The 
bones found in such localities are the remains of animals which came to 
the swamps to lick the salt found there, or in search of refuge. Many 
died natural deaths, while others were mired in the boggy earth, and, 
being unable to extricate themselves, perished. In this way bones ac- 
cumulated often in very considerable quantities. 

' These deposits, as well as those of the cave class, are generally too 
limited in extent to be of any commercial importance. 

1 These deposits have been described under the heading of Guanos. 

■ An account of this deposit may be found in an appendix to Mr. J. A. Allen's mono- 
graph on The History of the Buffalo, in the memoirs of the Kentucky Geological Sur- 
vey, Vol. I, 1876. 

(601) 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



Adams (Robert C). The phosphate in- 
dustry of Canada. 
Canadian Economics, pp. 189-193, 1883. 
Alabama : 
Smith. Bull. No. 5, Alabama State Dep. Agric, 

1884. 
Sunns. Bull. No. 5. Alabama State Dep. 
grfc, 1884. 

Allen (K. L.). Guano. 

A Brief Compendium of American Agricult- 
ure, New York, 1847. 

Aoust (Virletd 1 ). Formation descouches 
de gres par transports niolecu- 
laires de la math-re du ciment. 
Formation des nodules de phos- 
phate de chaux par un transport 
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rious forms in which bones are 
used in agriculture. 

Jour. Poy. Agric. Soc, 1st scr.. iv, Xo. vii, pt. 
1. pp. 179-196, 1868. 



(613) 



140 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



[BULL. 46. 



Volcker — Continued. 

Analyses of two samples of Gua- 

fiape guano. 
Jour. Roy. Agric. Soc, 2d ser., vi, No. vii, pt. 
1, p. 142, 1870. (In report of consulting 
chemist for 1869.) 

On the composition and practical 

value of several samples of native 
guano prepared by the ABC sew- 
age process of the Native Guano 
Company. 
Jour. Eoy. Agric. Soc, 2d ser., vol. vi, No. 
xii, pt. 2, pp. 415-424, 1870. 

Analyses of samples from various 

cargoes of guano imported from 
the Ballestas Isles. 

Jour. Eoy. Agric. Soc, 2d ser., viii, No. xv. pt. 
1, p. 220, 1872. 
■ Composition of two samples of sol- 
uble Peruvian guano. 

Jour. Eoy. Agric. Soc, 2d ser., ix, No. xvii, 
pt. 1, p. 261, 1873. (In report of consult- 
ing chemist for 1872.) 

Analyses of Peruvian and other 



guanos. 
Jour. Eoy. Agric. Soc, 2d ser., xi, No. xxii, 

pt. 2, p. 349, 1875. (In annual report of 

consulting chemist.) 
On phosphatic guanos. London : 

W. Clowes &, Sons, 1876. 

On phosphatic guanos. 

Eoy. Agric Soc. Eeport, vii, pt. 2, pp. 440-459, 

1876. 
Analyses of Peruvian and. other 

guanos. 
Jour. Eoy. Agric Soc, 2d ser., xiii, No. xxv, 

pt. 1, p. 189, 1877. (In annual report of 

consulting chemist.) 
Analyses of Peruvian and otber 

guanos. 
Jour. Eoy. Agric. Soc, 2d ser., xiv, No. xxvii, 

pt. 1, pp. 246-255, 1878; 2d ser., xv, No. 

xxix, pt. 1, pp. 346-352, 1879 ; 2d ser., xvi, 

No. xxxi, pt. 1, pp. 311-321, 1880 ; 2d ser., 

xvii, No. xxxiii, pt. 1, pp. 291-299, 1881 ; 

2d ser., xviii, No. xxxv, pt. 1, pp. 333-345, 

1882; 2d ser., xix, No. xxxvii, pt. 1, pp. 

245-247, 1883. (In annual reports of con- 
sul ting chemist.) 

W. 

Wales : 

DAVIES. Geol. Mag., iv, pp. 251-253, London, 

1867. 

Geol. Mag., ii, n. s., p. 183, London, 1875. 

Quart. Jour. Geol. Soc. London, xxxi, pp. 

357-367, 1875. 



Wales — Continued. 
Johnson, M. H. Geol. Mag., ii, n. si, p.. 238, Lon- 
don, 1875.- 
Sitepakd, C. U., jr. Foreign Phosphates. 

Charleston, S. C, 1879. 
Yolckee. Brit. Assoc. Adv. Sci., p. 37, 1865. 

W[alker] (John Francis). The Patton 
and Wicken phosphatic deposits. 
Geol. Mag., iii, n. s., pp. 41-43, London, 1876. 

■ On a phosphatic deposit in the 

Lower Greensand of Bedfordshire. 

Ann. Mag, Nat. Hist., 3d ser., xviii, pp. 31-32, 
381-386, 1866. 

A reply to H. G. Seeley's remarks 

on my account of the phosphatic 
deposits at Patton, in Bedford- 
shire. 
Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist,, 3d ser., xx, pp. 118-121, 
1867. 

On some new coprolite workings 

in the Fens. 
Geol. Mag., iv, pp. 309-310, London, 1867. 

On a new phosphatic deposit near 

Upware, Cambridgeshire. 
Geol. Mag., v, pp. 26-27, London, 1868. 

■ Upware deposits. 

Monog. Trigonia?, No. iii, Pala^ontographical 
Soc, xxix, p. 145. 

Way (John Thomas). On the composi- 
tion and money value of the dif- 
ferent varieties of guano. 
J our. Eoy. Agric. Soc, 1st ser., x, pp. 196-230, 
1849. 

See Paine (J. Man waring) and J. T. 

Way. 
Widdrington (S. E.). See Daubeny 
(Charles) and S. E. Widdrington, 
Wood (Searles Valentine). On the struct- 
ure of the Eed Crag. 
Geol. Mag., iii, p. 371, London, 1866. 
Woodward (Samuel P.). Notes on Pli- 
catula Sigillina, an undescribed 
fossil of the Upper Chalk and 
Cambridge phosphate-bed. 
Geol. Mag., i, pp. 112-114, London, 1864. 



Y. 



Yermoloff (Alexis). Les phosphates de 
chaux de la Russie. 
Jour, agric. prat., i, pp. 660-665, 1872. 



(614) 



N D E X . 



A. 

Page. 

African guano 119 

Alabama, phosphates of 75-78 

Allen, J. A., cited 127 

Anglo-Canadian Phosphate Company, 

Canada, operations of 36 

Apatite, nature and occurrences of. 22,23-46 

Apatites of Canada 23-42 

Apatites of Norway 42-45 

Apatites of Spain 45 

Arabian guano..*. 119,122 

Australian guano 119-122 



Barral,J.A., analyses by 119,120 

Bat guano 119-122 

Beaulieu, L.de, cited 105 

Belgium, phosphates of 10,102-107 

Belgium phosphates, method of treat- 
ment of 104 

Berthier, P., cited = 96,97 

Bibliography 129-614 

Bobierre, Adolphe, analyses by 52, 59, 119, 120 

Bobierre and Friedel, analyses by 59 

Bone beds 126,127 

Bonney.T. G., cited 91 

Bowles, William, cited 58 

Bretschneider, analyses by 126 

Briart, A., cited 103,104,105 

Broggerand Reusch, cited 41,43,44 

Buckingham Mining Company, opera- 
tions of 23 

Buckland, William, cited 96 

Burn, R. S., analyses by 122 



Caceres (Spain), phosphorite at 56-59 

Cameron, C. A., analyses by 122 

Canada, apatites of 23-42 

Canadian Mining Review, cited 40 

Cave deposits 126,127 

Charleston, S. C, phosphatic deposits 

near 13,14,61,62 

Chodneff, A., cited 114 

Claus, C.E., cited 114 

Combes, J. L., cited 51 

Cornet, F. L. , cited 13,103,104,105 

Cornet and Briart. cited 103,104, 10 

5 
D. 

Dana, J. D., cited 23,32,46 

Daniel, John, analyses by 77 



Page. 

Dawson. J. W., cited 31,41 

Daubeny, Charles, cited 58 

analyses by 58 

Daubeny and Widdrington, cited 63 

Daubree^Auguste, cited 48,49,50 

Davies.D.C, cited 46,80,81,82 



Dean, L.L., analyses by 77 

Deherain, P. P., analysesby 120 

Dehern, analyses by 44 

Delfortrie, E., cited.. 51 

Devonian rocks of Nassau, Germany, 

phosphate deposits of 14,15 

<fe Dismal Swamp district, phosphatic de- 
posits of .- 13 

Drysdale, analyses by 125 



Edrisi, cited 21 

Emmons, E., cited 30 

Engelhardt, cited 114 

analyses by ..: 115 

England, phosphates of 84-102 

Cretaceous phosphate beds of 84-94 

Tertiary phosphate beds of 94-96 

Estramadura (Spain), phosphate de- 
posits at 37,46 



Filhol, Henri, cited 50 

Fitton, W. H., cited 96 

Fisher, O., cited 86,87,88,97 

Florida, phosphates of 78 

P^rance (southwestern), phosphates of 48-53 

(northern), phosphates of. 107-111 

(northern), treatment of phosphates 

of 109 

(central), phosphates of 111-112 



Gibson, Charles, analyses by 77 

Gilbert, H., analyses by 126 

Guano, depositsof. 117-126 

Guano, African 119 

Arabian 119-122 

Australian 119-122 

Guanos, leached 122-126 

soluble 117-122 

Guillier, A., cited 52 



H. 

Harrington, B. J., cited 

Harris, E. M., analyses by. 



.28,31,34 



(015) 



141 



142 



INDEX. 



Page. 

Henslow, J. S., cited 96 

Herapath, T. J., analyses by 101 

Herzberg, W.I., analyses by 77 

Hills, F. C, & Co., analyses by 83, 84 

Holmes. F.S., cited 61,63,64,69 

Hunt, Robert, cited 97 

Hunt, T.Sterry, cited 23,26,29,30,40 



Jenyns, L., cited 89,95 

Johnson, M. H, cited 81 



Keeping, W., cited 90, 91, 92, 93, 94 

Kentucky, phosphatic deposits of 

14, 15, 16, 116, 117, 127 

Keyserling, A., cited 114 

Kirwan, Richard, cited 46 

Krageroe (Norway), phosphatic deposits 

at 43,44 



L. 



Lacustrine deposits 127 

Lankester, E. Ray, cited 95 

Laurentian phosphates, probable origin 

of 40,41 

Le Play, F„ cited 54,58 

Leymerie, A., cited 4 9»<f? 

Liebig, Justus von, cited 21 

•Limestone beds 116,117 

Little Rapids mine, structure at 38 

Liveing, G. D., analyses by 99 

Logrosan, Spain, phosphorite at 53-59 

Luna, see Torres, Munos y Luna 58 



Malinowski, J., cited 51 

Mantell, G. A., cited 88,96 

Martha's Vineyard, phosphates of. 78 

Mauvaises Terres, Nebraska, deposits of 14, 127 

Melsens, L. H. F., cited 103 

Meyn, L., cited 118,124 

Mohr.C. F., cited 48 

Moropite, a form of apatite 42, note 

Murchison, R., cited 114 



N. 



Naranjo y Garza, cited 45,54,55,58 

Naranjo y Garza and Lino Penuelas, 

cited .45,54,55 

Nassau, Germany, phosphorite of. 46-48 

Nesbit, J. C, analyses by 121 

Nestesvag, Norway, phosphates, depos- 
its at . 44 

New York, phosphate deposits of 37 

Nivoit, E., cited 104,108,109,110 

analyses by 106,107,110,111 

North Carolina phosphates 70-75 

Norton, J. P., analyses by 122 

Norway, phosphatic deposits of.. 42-45 



•Oedegarten, Norway, phosphate deposits 

at 43,44 

•Osteolite, a form of phosphorite 59 



P. 



Page. 



Paine and Way, cited 85,87,97 

Paine, J. M., cited , 97 

Peirce, Benjamin, Superintendent U. S. 
Coast Survey, geological researches 

under n 

Pelletier and Donadei, analyses by 53 

Penuelas, Lino, cited 45,54 55 

Peron, Alph., cited 59^ 51 

Peruvian guano 118-122 

Peter, Robert, U. S. Coast Survey, chemi- 
cal researches of 9 

cited jg 

analyses by 117 

Petermann, A iqg 

Phosphates, amorphous nodular 60-116 

of South Carolina 60-70 

of North Carolina 70-75 

of Alabama 75-78 

of Florida '.. 73 

of Martha's Vineyard 78 

of Wales 80 

of England 84 

of Belgium 102 

Phosphatic deposits, classified 11,12,22 

methods of search for 16,17 

determination of value of, as manures 17, 19 
of Southwestern France, theories as 

to origin of 50,51 

Phosphatic limestone of Kentucky 116, 117 

Phosphatic rock 59-127 

Phosphorites, deposits of. 46-59 

of Spain.. 53-59 

Poumarede, Andre, cited 51 

Prestwich, J., cited 94,95 

Proust, J. L., cited 58 

Proctor, J. R., cited 16 

R. 

Regardsheien, Norway, phosphatic de- 
posits at.... 43 

Rey-Lescure, cited.. 49,50 

Richards, D. H., analyses by 83 

Rock phosphates 59-127 

Rose, G., analyses by 45,46 

Ruffin, Edmund, cited 6L 

Rumpler, analyses by 125 

Russia, phosphate of 112-116 



S. 



Schmidt, cited 

analyses by 

Schwackhofer, F., cited. 

analyses by 



82 

115 

114 

115 

Seeley, H.G., cited , 86,93 

Silurian phosphatic deposits 11 

Siegert, analyses by 125 

Shaler, N. S., introduction by 9,20 

notes by 30, 37, 41, 78, 102, 105-10S 

cited 69,116 

Shepard, C.U.Jr.. aid by 19 

analyses by 42,45,53,59,69,70,79,115,12© 

cited 43, 47, 52, 54, 55, 56, 60, 61, 63, 65, 66, 67, 

68, 93, 97, 113, 123, 124 
Shepard, C. U., sr., cited 79 



(61C) 






INDEX. 



143 



Page. 

Sollas, W. J., cited 87,88,89 

South Carolina, phosphatie deposits of.. .13. 1 1, 37, 

60-70, 67-69 

South Carolina phosphates, cost of 17 

method of mining- ami treatment 67-139 

Spain, phosphate deposits of 15,45,53-59 

Spargelstein, a form of apatite 45 

Ssamorod, a form of Russian phosphatie 

deposit LIS 

Stockhardt, J. A.,eited 118 

Swamp lands of Southern stales, phos- 
phatie deposits of 13, 14 



Tawney, E.B., cited 91 

Teall, J. J. H.J#ed 93 

Tertiary phosphate beds of England 94-9G 

Torres, Munos yXuna (Ramon), cited 23, 15,58 

analyses by... 58 

Trutat, cited 49 

Tuomey, M., cited 61 

(61 



Page. 
Turner's Island, Clear Lake, Canada, 

phosphate deposits of 81,38 

r. 

I're. Andrew, analyses by 120 

V. 

Vega, Gareilaso de la, cited 21 

Vennor, Henry (;., cited L'l 

Vdlcker, A., analyses by 83,84,98,100,126 

cited 92 

W. 

Wales, phosphate deposit of 1">, 80 

Walker, J. F., cited 91,92,93 

Way, J. T., cited 87, 88, 92, 97 

analyses by 98,99,100,101 

Width ington and Daubeny, cited ">.'> 

Widdrington, S. E., cited 58 

Y. 
Yermoloff, Alex., analyses by 115, 1 1 1 » 

cited 112,113, 110 

7) 











^2? 



